By Matthew Valenzuela-Serrano During the 2015-16 & 17-18 school year, Independence students frequented a taco stand behind campus during lunch. This year, the stand seems to have disappeared from behind our campus. For those who don’t know or weren’t here, the stand used to be off campus between the two charter schools.
The taco stand often provided a variety of goods for a reasonable price. But their selling point was the tacos and burritos, providing an alternative to a school lunch or packing a lunch. One problem that was created was the length of the line. The taco stand often had legions of students eager for their food, which resulted in many students being late to their 6th period class. Junior Kaylen Saturnino, who ate at the stand, describes it as a “long line” and “understands why the lines were long. Students don’t want to eat school food.” She also feels like “many students miss the stand because of the tacos and feel inconvenienced. Please bring back the taco truck. It had delicious tacos and helped the family’s financial needs.” Junior Danny Rollerson goes in depth about the stand saying, “It was a good place to get food, and sold food people actually liked and tasted good.” When asked about the line he said “Sometimes the length did bother me and would most likely take most if not all lunch. I miss it because now we don’t have anything else to eat other than school food. It was a place where you could actually get good food on campus and look at our mixtape on SoundCloud.” It seems that most students knew about the truck and went there during lunch. People miss what was offered. Some students believe that the school is responsible for the taco stand being absent. Principal Berg said, “The vendor was not within legal nutritional regulations, I know one of the charter schools was trying to coordinate with a vendor but Independence hasn’t coordinated with a vendor. The State and Board have restrictions and regulations about what vendors can sell.” So the vendors we’ve seen and are currently seeing are illegal, even if we’ve been within a few yards of the actual campus or if had just ended 7th period ended. Principal Berg said, “Independence can have one vendor but they would have to meet strict regulations and the food wouldn’t taste good.”
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By Pauline Phan The staff of IHS are introducing “Achievers, Respectful, Engaged” cards, or A.R.E cards to allow students to be rewarded for good behavior. Teachers and staff who witness such behavior may give out the cards.
Once a student receives a card, they can fill out their name and I.D. and enter it in a raffle for the chance to win a prize by placing it into the collection boxes in rooms D-05, N-02, C-05. The cards will be drawn at the Senior Stage on Fridays. “I have handed out several A.R.E. cards to my students. Most of them have been given when I see students being extra helpful or considerate to their fellow classmates, says Mrs.Trenholm, “I have also given an A.R.E card to a student who is usually quite talkative, but was really working hard and staying on task.” Students who qualify for the cards have to exhibit improvement in their behavior or make positive changes to the environment on campus. There are several ways to accomplish this, such as, picking up trash, helping out another student with educational needs, coming to school on time when usually tardy, showing positive behavior, participating in activities or clubs beneficial to the campus, and show commitment to learning. The purpose of the cards are for the staff to recognize positive behaviors to make up for negative behavior punishments, such as referrals. “It is our goal to give more positive recognition to our students for their behaviors and accomplishments, both great and small” the staff claims. However, it seems as though not very much consideration and enforcement toward these cards have been seen in all classes since their announcement thus far. An IHS teacher, Mrs. Fabricius, states, “it is, in my experience, something to get used to as i have not handed one card out yet but could have on occasions.” “I honestly haven’t even heard of it. None of my teachers have given out the cards”, says a freshman, Amy Nguyen. Furthermore, Mrs.Finney hopes the behavior of students are not purely influenced by the cards, “I have had students asking for a card, so I think some students are focused on receiving prizes. I hope students have positive behavior because it is the right thing to do, not to receive a prize.” Sagar Kanda, a 12th grade student, comments “It’s useless due to the fact that teachers give away cards for what we should be doing normally.” Moreover, a junior, David Nguyen says, “I think the idea is cool but I don’t know how well they’re gonna execute it.” Nonetheless, most teachers and some students believe that the cards will benefit the campus, “I think it's been a positive thing at other schools which is why we are trying it here” states Mr.Bermingham, who has been frequently giving out A.R.E cards. A high school senior, Emerson Valdez, says “I think it’s an amazing idea to encourage good student behavior.” “I think the cards are a good idea because I think teachers too often notice student behavior in a negative way and it is nice to have a tool for positive rewards”, says Mrs. Trenholm, “I plan to continue giving them out because I think it is a program that will take some time to gain momentum, but after that I think it could have a big impact.” |
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