With Trigg County Public Schools officials anticipating next week’s “First Day” on August 13, new Trigg County High School Principal Kristee Barnes knows some coming wide-sweeping changes might be tough to accept at the start.
Among the most discussed topics across the community in the last month is a new dress code — one she said brings more respect to, and from, the student, and holds young adults more accountable as they prepare for the next phase of life.
It also wasn’t some flippant decision that came quickly, nor lightly, from leaders.
Individuality, style and personality are important footnotes of a child’s life, especially as sense of self develops in later teenage years.
But Barnes also noted that if a student is wearing something that feels questionable, it’s best to go ahead and change — and not “just because.”
Meanwhile, cell phone usage in the classroom has not only become a local talking point, but a national one.
The positives, according to many officials, is:
*It provides a sense of connection to a much larger community, where sharing and learning new ideas are acceptable, welcome behaviors.
*It offers a sense of safety and security, particularly during possible inclement weather and campus criminal activities.
*And it offers quick access to data, facts and live discussions that might prove useful in education.
The negatives, however, also loom large:
*Attention in the classroom tends to erode if cell phones are permitted.
*Cyberbullying, especially through social media, naturally increases with easier access to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, X and other platforms.
*Cheating and other educational infidelities only ramp in possibility.
*And cell phones, ironically enough, can create a sense of remoteness, isolationism and disconnection from healthy relationships.
In 2020, and per The Harvard Gazette, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that 77% of U.S. Schools had moved to prohibition of cellphones for nonacademic purposes.
Barnes said TCHS will be really close to this kind of measure.
First written by Brownsville Station in 1973, and later famously covered by Motley Crue in 1985, the tune “Smokin’ In The Boys Room” highlights a problem that’s always existed in high schools across the country.
Vapes, she urged, are getting a further crackdown in 2024-25 — especially through state law.
Those “mobile desks,” she said, will allow students to be more engaging with school leadership.
Open house for TCHS is 5-6:30 PM Thursday, while schedules and Chromebooks are being picked up at the start of the week.
