Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Sweet Home High School student Steven Smith is working on a way to convince other students to take the matter of a closed high school campus into their own hands.
Smith, a senior who would not be affected by a lunchtime campus closure next year, is making a video to show students exactly what the community sees and why so many in the Sweet Home community want to see campus closed. He is going to interview district officials, such as Principal Pat Stineff, he said.
“I’m going to record pretty much how students behave wherever they hang out,” said Smith, who plans to attend college and get involved in computer science and become a graphics and web designer. Videography is just a hobby. Last year, he ran live video for the high school play, “1984” and he’s handling some technical needs for this year’s production of “Class Action.”
He expects to record students hanging out at the old Pit Stop, loitering, crossing Long Street regardless of crosswalks and traffic, leaving garbage behind and other poor behavior.
“The main message of the video is if students don’t want to be more respectful of the Sweet Home community, there’s going to be a closed campus, no question about it,” Smith said. “If students don’t want a closed campus, they need to do something.”
The problem, he said, is that many students tend to avoid places like Speedee Mart “because of all the profanity, the loitering, disrespect” by some students.
“I myself try to avoid these crowds also,” he said. “There’s students disrespectful to other students. It’s unbelievable.
“It’s not a lot of students that are disrespectful. It’s a few that are (not counting garbage or crossing Long Street). I think students just need to be a little more respectful, throw their trash away, quit yelling and cursing – normal stuff you would do at a job.”
One student’s behavior can reflect on the entire high school’s student body, Smith said. Plus, some of the individuals causing the problems are not students at all, he noted. If campus were closed those people would have no reason to visit the area around the school during lunch.
Vice Principal Steve Emmert asked Smith to make the video. Emmert said he thinks part of the problem is that students are not aware of the impact their behavior is having on the community.
“I certainly think the kids are capable of being responsible in the community,” Emmert said. “I don’t think they’ve begun to change yet because we haven’t spent the time yet making them aware of our feelings.”
As the message gets out that the community is unhappy with their behavior and the students start understanding what the problems are, “the ball will be in their court,” Emmert said. “And we’ll see if they rise to the challenge.”
Using a video to spread that message has precedent in coaching, Emmert said. “I would compare it to coaching in that a coach can tell an athlete 100 times what the athlete needs to correct. Until the athlete sees themselves doing it incorrectly,” changing the behavior can be difficult. On screen, they can see exactly what they’re doing wrong.
“We’re hoping for the same thing here,” Emmert said. “I think a handful of kids are creating the largest problems, shoplifting, being disrespectful; but I would say a large number of kids are leaving their garbage for someone else to pick up. We want these kids to leave this place as good citizens and positive role models.
“If the kids can clean up behind themselves and act responsibly, I’d love an open campus. If they can’t, I’m not opposed to closing it.”
The behavior issues go further than the off-campus issues, he said.
Police have responded to a higher number of calls to the high school than usual.
Most of those calls are drug- or alcohol-related, Emmert said. The school has had more expulsions than ever this year — some 18.
“I think it’s a societal issue, personally,” he said. “I think we have more kids raising themselves than we used to have. We have less stability in family units than we used to have. I think overall, fewer people value education, morals and responsibility, and that shows up in the lives of our kids.”
Emmert said in the past 20 years he’s seen changes “in what we value overall as a society.”
“Fewer kids are involved in the positive things that we try to offer,” he said. “I believe as a community, it’s going to take more than the schools. We need to work hard at involving kids in positive alternatives. I think we need to work together to teach responsibility: Behavior and commitment, two values that used to be really important in our society.
“You pick up after yourself so somebody else doesn’t have to, use the crosswalks so that cars only have to stop at crosswalks, so cars don’t have to stop every 10 feet when they drive down Long Street.”
The school’s student site council is on board with this and other efforts to try to change student behavior, Emmert said.
Smith said he plans to start filming after spring break and expects the job to take a week or two.
“I like helping out with things for the school,” Smith said. He plans to involve other students, having them take photos or do some video.
“They need to get the message: Change or closed campus,” Smith said. “I don’t care if the students are upset with me (for filming them). It’s a matter of respect, disrespect and doing things that are OK or not OK.”