This has to be the worst building I could have ever dreamed of for a school. With a design based off a prison (google it or ask anyone) and teachers who don't give more than 1/4 of a f*ck (minus a select few [pro tip, get Brown or Bryson, they're actually dedicated to their job]), this school emulates a prison better than an actual institution of learning. Their newest policy strips students of the ability to use their phone in a non-disruptive fashion with impunity. Imagine you leave your phone in your backpack, walk to the bathroom or cafeteria for lunch, and a shooting occurs. You now can't call anyone for help or to alert of a shooting, and have to rely upon the school officer who is too busy harassing kids to actually pay attention. The school does nothing with the budget in regards to making the environment less depressing or opening new pathways so students don't get caught in rush hour traffic outside the C-Wing. Instead of backing off when students tell them that their environment is driving them to suicide, they double down and add restrictive fencing and barely any outside seating for lunch. According to their staff, a survey revealed that 70% of teachers see phones in their classroom as disruptive or distracting enough to the learning environment to warrant a pseudo-ban. If the school actually paid attention to their students rather than the packets they mass-produce for their factory-like learning environment, they might realize with the few brain cells they have left that the teachers play an equal part in student interaction if not more than the student. The teacher's job is not only to stuff tons of information into walls of text, but to make that wall of text digestible and interesting to focus on and engage with. Teachers like Mr. and Mrs. Copenhaver (sorry, not sorry) would rather lecture and give out the same packets every single year than actually put effort into making an engaging learning environment and providing a healthy focus on the life/work balance. The school is so horrendous at engaging the students that I remember watching kids fall asleep while the teachers were talking. Not during a lull in the flow of the class, but legitimately due to the voices and lack of stimulating thought that flies around in each of their glorified animal cages. Another flaw in their already broken idea of a school system is that the students exiled to third lunch go hungry because the cafeteria does not have enough food to feed the students. The food is overpriced garbage. For example, a hot lunch from the default cafeteria is $3.25, which includes a milk, a side that you're forced to get, and a main dish which is either frozen pizza made from cardboard and stale cheese or some other equally questionable dish. While Boatman makes $200,000+ a year, I personally have friends that go hungry at lunch due to lack of affordable meal options for those without enough cash to buy the food and without the food at home to bring with them. The school also has problems regulating the audio they blast out of their speakers and band instruments, leading to ear shattering levels of audio as you enter while the band plays less than 30 ft away from you at full blast. Add in the fact that the assemblies have a toss up chance of being ear rape or too quiet, and it makes students tune out more than tune in. I would rather flip burgers for $7.50 than go to another packet teacher's class. read more
