We have all (hopefully) received a letter from our principal, Brent Riessen, about the upcoming school year. I would just like to share my reaction to it.

In the first paragraph, they encourage us to follow them on Twitter (@JCSD_JHS), however, we don’t have access to Twitter on our iPads. They’ve done this before and it never fails to make me laugh. They also put that in one of the header things on the Johnston website, telling us to follow them on Twitter and like them on Facebook. But we can’t in school. Oh, the irony.

I was particularly interested in the “Building Security” section of the letter. We are all being issued ID badges on a lanyard, which we are supposed to wear every day.

That will go well.

If they really expect us to wear the lanyards for the entirety of the day, they are very mistaken. I’m not particularly upset by the ID badge idea, but why can’t we just use the ones on our iPad? I’m confused as to why the lanyard is necessary. I do understand that it’s a good idea to make sure that only students and teachers can enter our school, but seriously, I’m pretty sure just about everybody is going to complain about the lanyards sooner or later.

It then says, “All who enter the building need to check in with the attendance office.” Does that mean everybody? Or is it just visitors? It was just unclear to me. But if it is for all students, I will laugh every single day when I see the swarm of students in the attendance office at 7:49 trying to get checked in.

Later in the “Parking” section, the letter kindly reminds us that we “cannot park in grassy areas, along the curb, or in the blue or yellow grid areas located on the outside of the designated parking areas.” We also need a parking tag. I find it quite sad that we have to be reminded of this, but as a mall worker who got a job right before Christmas season, I understand the issue of people parking in an “unorthodox parking space”.

Things are changing around JHS and I think it’s a bit much. I can already hear the complaining of the ID badges during that first day of school in all of my classes. Pretty much all the letter talked about was clearing up old questions and making sure we all know the rules. Only park in the parking lot legally, make sure you’ve got your lanyard every day, and don’t break your iPad. Oh, and follow the school on Twitter! They’ll be tweeting all sorts of things that we can’t see from our school-issued devices.