Staff Editorial: Clearing up miscommunications

Needless to say, there has been a surge of rumors spreading through the student body this year. “They took away extra credit, and credit points are gone!” The Samohi has been bombarded with rumors of policy changes since August. Many of these speculations have proven to be false.The problem at Samo is few students, if any, know the truth about what the administration has done thus far.This miscommunication stems from the lack of clear communication between administrators and teachers, and subsequently, teachers and students. The game of telephone that has been going on throughout Samo, has caused students to believe that policies were created, pep rallies were canceled and our new principal Laurel Fretz was the “bad guy.”These rumors seem to have centered around the idea that Fretz arrived at Samo and immediately began making changes to various policies.First of all, a school principal does not even have the power to make or change policies in the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD). That power, according to Fretz, is left to the Board of Education. The job of the principal is to enforce those policies.However, Fretz has met a large amount of animosity regarding extra credit and  the Homecoming pep rally.  In regards to extra credit, Fretz has already said that “teachers can do whatever they want. I can’t tell them how to teach.”Instead, Fretz said she suggested that  teachers only offer extra credit that relates to the academic standards of the class. Teachers and students misundersood, and took that to mean that Fretz was banning all extra credit. Subsequently, rumors began to spread.The second point of gossip was the lunchtime Homecoming pep rally.When Fretz stood up in front of the senior assembly to discuss the possibility of reinstating the fourth period rallies, she said she hoped to have a mature discussion with the students.However, many students jumped to the conclusion that Fretz had changed the rally to lunchtime. That immediately put some students on the offensive. Some students, in a counterintuitive attempt to earn a pep rally, began chanting “one-two,” the exact behavior that has created trouble in the past.Assumptions and misinterpretations have created the disperate atmosphere present on our campus. Teachers misunderstood memos, and they unintentionally passed flawed information to students. This misinterpretation of memos led to rumors, which has disrupted our ability to adjust to all of the changes that are happening this year.We must not let rumors define our perception of someone or something. We owe it to ourselves to find out all of the facts before jumping to conclusions.Therefore, we at The Samohi would like to propose a plan to ensure that information is passed directly from the administration to the students from now on. We are calling for the administration to instate a monthly roundtable discussion between administrators and representatives from various student organizations on campus. This would establish open communication between adults and students on  campus, and ending the confusion about rules, policies and school events. Through open communication, we can create a school that will allow students and staff towork together to create a better learning environment for every Samo stakeholder.editor@thesamohi.com