Chaos fills the halls of Lexington High School after a radical policy punishing frequent Aspen users evolved into a purge targeting all academically-oriented students at the school.
For years, the administration has been working diligently to reverse LHS’ “pressure cooker” reputation. A key aspect of this is students’ focus on grades and the resulting obsession with checking Aspen.
“Our main focus is the students’ well-being… Aspen is a disease,” Mai Faulette, a French teacher at LHS, said.
After all prior constructive efforts to increase mindfulness and mental health awareness were deemed ineffective, administrators switched to an exhaustive strike-based system punishing obsessive checkers. The system is outlined below:
Offense 1 (3 checks/day): Students get point deductions in a class important to them.
Offense 2 (4 checks/day): Parents are fined $500 by the school.
Offense 3 (5 checks/day): Students’ dream colleges are sent a personalized letter about the students’ unproductive attitudes.
Any additional offense: Students are expelled from school and families receive an increased property tax.
“It may seem strict, but what’s worse is the students’ stress. It’s eating them alive. We needed to do something big fast,” Rupert Card, a history teacher, said.
However, students criticize the principles behind these measures, claiming that they are too harsh to serve their intended purpose.
“Yesterday, I was blacklisted from applying to Harvard because of a letter talking about my social ineptitude after I checked to see if my bio teacher put in my quiz grade. The quarter was closing and I wanted to see where I was at. Harvard has been my dream college since I was four and I’ve worked so hard towards it. School should be about encouraging students to achieve their dreams. It’s not about that anymore!” Gene Nome, a sophomore, said. Editor’s note: Nome was unable to complete the interview due to emotional duress.
Students without offenses are also facing consequences from this policy.
“At this point, I’ve lost my whole English class table group to this new policy. I have no friends in school anymore! At this rate, I might as well make my grades my best friend and get expelled too,” Lone Lee, a junior, said.
Others suggest that there may have been external motivating factors driving these consequences, such as funding the LHS Building Project. Parents are speaking out in outrage, paying the cost of their children’s academic ambition.
“I received an email last Monday demanding a five-hundred-dollar payment to the school while my kid was transcribing his grades into Common App. It assured me that the proceeds would go to help ‘improve my child’s school environment.’ Turns out that just meant it was going to fund the construction of the new school they’re building in a few years. He’ll be in college by then!” Ayam Broke, an LHS parent, said.
On the other hand, many teachers believe that this extra funding is productive, as it can create environments more conducive to learning and educating.
“These consequences are super helpful as well because the school is focusing less on budget cuts for teachers and giving more priority to reprimanding misbehaving students. Teachers are able to focus on teaching now,” Faulette said.
Though funds raised by this new policy are meant to support the construction of the new school, it may produce major financial repercussions for the school as parents threaten to take legal action.
“It’s a good thing my eldest is a civil lawyer — she graduated top of her class in law school, actually. I already spoke to her. Turns out us parents are eligible for quite the compensation for these ridiculous policies. The administration will be hearing from us very soon,” Broke said.
