WHSSpokesman Wheeling High School
Volume 55 Issue 1
900 S. Elmhurst Road
Wheeling, Ill. 60090
September 14, 2018
Page 3 WHS chooses Chicago as school musical
Page 6-7 Prospect Heights fire and relief
Page 9 Ariana Grande album review
Page 12 After tearing ACL twice, athlete is back in the game
Parking pass prices: students and faculty weigh in The schools itself do not even have a voice when the yearly parking pass prices are set. “The price is set by the district and it has been the same price for six years now. It’s a very consistent price and it’s very reasonable, especially if you’ve checked other school district’s parking pass prices,” Patty Misichko, school attendance A student pass to park in the back WHS lot costs office clerk, said. $190 for year long access, and $4 for the daily All of the schools in District 214 charge an pass. Students raise awareness of the high number, annual fee of $190 to park in their school lots, and but faculty claim it to be a very fair, affordable that price seems to fall somewhere in the middle, price. when compared to other schools of northwest “I think there are about 100 students in America suburban Chicago. right now sitting down with their principal having “Where I came from, it was like $100 to park, this same conversation. This is a universal issue but if you go to New Trier or the Glenbrook in education where kids have these concerns,” schools, it’s like $300 to park,” Cook said. Jerry Cook, school principal, said. Although WHS Although faculty agrees the price is reasonable receives the money paid from the students, the for all students in the district to afford, some WHS school does not profit directly from the student students still have concern over its fairness. payments. “I think that parking prices are way overpriced. “The money received from the passes goes to I understand that we need to pay to park but we’re a District 214 pod of money to maintain all the already paying for school and everything else, schools in the district. It goes to the maintenance so I don’t think parking should be as high as it of the parking lot and other general maintenance is. I think a fair price would be like $100,” Heidi items of the building,” Cook said. Wenson, junior, said.
By Amanda Talalaj Editor-in-Chief
Although the price seems unrealistically high for a student to afford, it can be linked to one of the liabilities there is to driving and owning your own car. “Some people make the argument where if you can afford a car, gas, insurance, then you can afford $190 for a whole year of parking,” Cook said. Though some students express concern over this price, others see the rationale behind it. “I feel like it’s priced kind of high but it’s not outrageous considering I get to park for like 180 days and it costs $190. It’s almost a dollar a day, which isn’t that bad when you think about it,” Rachel Lawson, junior, said. Since the parking pass is a yearlong pass, students may wonder why nobody has ever thought of a payment plan that would allow one to pay off the pass over a longer course of time. This would allow some lower income students more time to pay off the fee, instead of them rushing to pay it all at once. “I don’t know if anybody has raised the issue of a payment plan yet,” Cook said. “But I do think that where we’re at right now is in a very fair and affordable price range for our students.”
A buzz cut for the courtyard, a chance to rebuild
Photos taken by Alexis Knight
Trees and bushes were removed from the school courtyard over the summer due to bee hazards and because the plants themselves were dying. WHS is currently in the process of planting new trees in order to compensate for those torn down. The process will take time.
Increased security measures, old protocol changes locking the front door is a qualified safety measure. “We conducted a security audit, and one of the By Alexis Knight things that security experts advised is that anytime Staff Reporter you have a building, there should be one entrance for all people. After school we have more people parking in the back versus the front for activities and sporting events, so that is why we left the back Regulations were put in place to increase doors opened,” he said. security this school year including morning ID Backpack checks are yet another recent checks, random backpack checks, and locking regulation that has been established. “As I said, of the front doors after school. The importance we had the security audit, and the one thing that of increasing security in light of recent events they were very surprised about and the one thing around the nation is becoming evident to staff and they thought we should stop doing is having an students, however, the security measures that were open campus. If you think about it we are allowing added, stir up mixed opinions. hundreds of kids to leave the building, come back Faculty claim that the implemented security in, and we don’t know what they are bringing measures are a good way of keeping people safe. back in. So that is a very soft spot for us. So we “The ID checks came about from discussions with have a couple of options. We can not have an the superintendent and other principals in the open campus, or we can try to check students as district. So obviously it’s a response to some of the they come back in with bags to see if they have school shootings that have occurred throughout any contraband or weapons. So doing random bag the country. So we are looking at all the different checks allows us to provide some level of security entrances and exits and some of our policies within for the building while not eliminating open campus. the district, so that was a district wide decisions. I I think we are pretty close to a balance. I think think it is a good idea. I came from a school where that is the key word around security and school every student wore an ID, so I think it’s a nice buildings is finding a balance between providing balance between having to have kids wear IDs and safety and security and not prohibiting student nothing at all, where kids just walk in freely. It’s freedoms,” Cook said. a balanced approach I think,” Jerry Cook, school Security guards are the ones who patrol the principal, said. school entrances. “In a lighter sense, we’re kind Along with the IDs, the principal also feels like of taking place of the police because what would
happen in society if you didn’t have police. I’m not saying we’re police, but we are kind of the first line of defense,” Norb Kriss, security guard, said. Security guards are the ones who carry out the safety measures. “Times have changed and you never know what you might find in a backpack,” Kriss said. Some students do not see a major problem with the new regulations. “I feel like they are necessary, but an inconvenience. If you don’t remember to take out your ID, you have to look through your stuff and pull it out. As for backpack checks, they don’t really matter to me because I won’t have anything to hide, but I get the idea, if someone’s backpack were checked they could confiscate something,” Katrina Haas, sophomore, said. However, not all students feel the same way about these security measures being taken. “Locking the front doors makes it so hard for athletes, parents, or anyone to get in,” Lizbeth Gomez, senior, said. “I hate ID checks. It’s honestly not safe at all. You can have a picture of someone else’s ID on your phone and still get in just fine. It’s not effective. Backpack checks are a waste of time, too. It feels like they don’t trust me anymore, and teachers blame you if you are late because of them. If people know about backpack checks they’ll find another way to bring what they want in. I understand the need, but what will this really do?” Dania Vargas, senior, questioned.