Rules: Teachers' and Students' Attitudes

Even before I read through Lake Stevens High School's handbook, I had an idea of what I was going to find. After being at the school for three days and observing four different classrooms in a total of six class periods, I've noticed that despite the difference in teaching strategies, the same overall expectations, freedoms, and morals are set. The school seems to be more liberal compared to my high school in Humble, Texas because of little freedoms that the students have, such as the permission to use iPods, wear hats, have facial piercings, etc. My high school was much more traditional, and often led to deviation from the set rules and expectations. Classroom discussions are conducted in a casual and welcoming manner at LSHSand students are also able to choose from a wide range of electives.

In the Lake Stevens High School handbook all of this is enforced. Their Mission statement sums up what LSHS strives for, as well as the impression I received from my few days as a visitor:

The staff of Lake Stevens High School is committed to developing an attitude of life-long learning, service to one’s community, personal growth and improvement of each individual student in our school. Every effort is made to help each student reach his / her maximum academic, vocational, social, recreational and physical potentials.

The staff guides the students through the transition from high school to the adult world by placing high expectations upon the students. Emphasis is placed upon a positive, healthy attitude, personal responsibility, and respect for the unique characteristics of each individual.

Finally, the staff is committed to an on-going mutual team building process with the various sectors of the school family: students, community members, and staff members.

The Viking family is definitely a supportive and welcoming group, which has positively impacted the students. The handbook’s tone follows the school’s attention towards their goals as the handbook emphasizes supervision, engaging in school/home communication, the guidance from classroom curricula, which follows Washington’s EALRs, and proper attendance, discipline, and participation procedures.

A student reading through the handbook is likely to feel that at LSHS he or she is part of a community, rather than just another student out of the bunch. By creating a supportive and welcoming rulebook, students may realize that they have freedoms, the ability to succeed, and most importantly, that every instructor at the school truly cares and is there for the student. I’m impressed with how well formatted Lake Stevens High School is and that the teachers and staff hired have exactly the right personality and mentality for the job. I’m very privileged to be working with such a strong and caring group of educators.