This fall, Andover students returned to several new policies: restricting cell phone use on campus and regulating the possession of medications. The influx of new rules, announced right before orientation week, frustrated many students. The more pressing issue, however, lies in poor execution and insufficient communication.
Logistically, some policies seem designed to bring students more inconvenience. For one, the medication policy, as written in the Blue Book, states all over-the-counter and prescription drugs must be stored at Sykes and distributed to each student on a dose-by-dose basis. This new policy has disrupted many students’ schedules, forcing students to wake up early in the morning and wait in long lines, while also compromising student privacy as peers can see who receives medication.
Yet, the problem runs deeper than inconvenience. Vague language leaves students seeking answers. What medications qualify under the policy? What if someone unexpectedly needs their medication in the middle of the night?
The finer details of the cell phone policy reflect similar flaws. For instance, the cell phone policy requires lowerclassmen to charge their phones outside their rooms at night. Because the policy was announced a week before orientation, several Prefects have to wake the lowerclassmen up in their rooms until the alarm clocks that the school purchased have been delivered.
All change comes with a transition period, and it’s impossible for the administration to plan out everything perfectly in advance. Yet the long lines at Sykes and lack of alarm clocks make the school seem unprepared and lacking in foresight.
The administration has promised to modify policies to accommodate student needs, but its actions remain unknown. Some students with medical conditions were notified that they might qualify for exceptions to the cell phone policy, but have yet to receive further clarification. On the other hand, many students also noticed the benchmark for a 6, across many classes, has been raised to a 94 percent from last year’s 93 or 92 percent, causing students to speculate about a new, unannounced grading policy.
Undoubtedly, there have recently been issues revolving around student engagement and community. Oftentimes, students are engrossed in their phones instead of engaging with peers or studying. The phone policy does provide a means of forming healthy habits for students. The medicine policy does address the danger of unregulated medications on campus. These policies certainly have merit. But without clear communication, uncertainty distracts students from the very goals the policies aim to achieve. Especially for changes that affect so many, we expect better planning, or at least, more proactive communication from the administration.
