Teachers and Students agree: SLA had been getting dirtier.
Many people at SLA have been overheard talking about some of the “trouble spots” in the school. Common spots to find litter are the pool and the ballrooms, where students leave packaging and food from lunch.
Things get more extreme in places like back stairwell, where people have left litter, extra chairs, and other messes. Even in the bathrooms, weaves, unsanitary napkins, and other trash have been found on the floor and in the sinks.
The littering has resulted in some gross consequences. Senior Winston Wright has a tale about bugs.
“During the beginning of preseason for soccer we wanted to use first floor bathroom in the morning but couldn’t because there was like 4 or 5 cockroaches running around,” he said.
As popular as SLA is, there are constantly visitors viewing our school and speaking with students. Staff is concerned about how the school looks to outsiders.
“As somebody who has to give tours all the time, it’s embarrassing when the school’s not at its best,” Said ILP Coordinator Jeremy Spry.
“The truth is that the majority of the school is clean most of the time there is just some trouble spots–everybody finds it gross but no one tries to change the culture, we are living in our own filth.” Said English teacher, Mrs. Pahomov.
In response to this problem, Health and Fitness Teacher Mrs. Martin thought of an idea to keep the school in tact and cleaner: have the students take care of the space in which they must work every day.
SLA’s new Space Adoption program officially started on the first day of school, where advisories picked…
Advisories must now clean up that space and make a sign posted there, encouraging others to keep it nice.
“You are not the new janitors for that space,” Ms. Pahomov said. “The idea is that you help beautify it, and convince others to keep it nice. Plus you have to remember that every space in the school belongs to an advisory — if you mess with it, you’re messing with them.”
One of the biggest problems at SLA is with trash and leftover mess from lunch. It’s not really noticeable to students since it’s such a normality to them now. The cleaning ladies are then left to clean up the student messes. Their job is to clean the school in general, not to clean after the disrespectful students leaving their trash behind.
SLA students seem to have some mixed feelings towards the project.
Senior Alex Johnson said,” Somewhat at first I believe it will help, but well see how it ends up as the months go on.”
“I think this is just a step towards becoming the best school we can be,” Mrs. Martin said. “When you have limited resources, your people are the best resource.”
Written by Isabela Supovitz-Aznar & Jamie Murphy
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