Click here for part 4 – “NCHS embraces…”
Kelsey Anspach
Managing Editor
From the ability to pursue a Senior project to being able to use phones in school and to go off campus, students here are allowed a wide range of freedoms that students at many other schools don’t have.
There are other privileges that are not so obvious and may be taken for granted by students. “We’re unique in that we’re one of the few schools that has open access to social media,” Library Department Chair Michelle Luhtala said. “It’s very unusual. There are lots of principals that would have said ‘No way are we allowing this.’ We’re not one of those places.”
These freedoms are not a recent development. “[Principal] Tony Pavia has continued a long, proud tradition of trusting kids to do the right thing at NCHS. We’ve rarely ever been disappointed,” Social Studies Department Chair Richard Webb said.
Students have been allowed these freedoms because of a prevailing trust between the administration and students. “Mr. Pavia lives by Lincoln’s dictum,” Mr. Webb said. “He assumes that kids will be guided by ‘the better angels of their nature.'”
Mr. Pavia explained there is a give and take to maintaining this belief. “Privileges, like a democracy, are messy; it’s easier not to have any,” he said. “As I always say, ‘Privilege comes with responsibility.’ You have to look at what the trade-offs are.”
When Mr. Pavia first becam
e Principal, he wasn’t expecting to instill an off-campus policy at all. “I never thought I’d support open campus, and many people thought I was brought here to close the campus,” he said. “It ran against every bone in my body. I stated out front, ‘I’m going to evaluate it based on its impact on academics.’ ”
Through Mr. Pavia’s time here, he has become much more open to allowing freedoms for students. “I came from a background where students didn’t have many privileges,” Mr. Pavia said. “In my career, I’ve evolved to where I feel that we should carry our belief that the vast majority of students are good, and that and that we should force the students to prove us wrong.”
When the open campus policy was first put in place, issues that did arise were addressed relative to their size. “When students started coming in with unexcused absences during the fourth quarter, we changed aspects of the attendance policy and the appeals process rather than take the privilege away,” Mr. Pavia said.
Student experiences reveal that Mr. Pavia is more geared toward maintaining privileges than taking them away. “One time last year, I lost my license after going off campus,” senior Allie Skaperdas said. “I talked to Mr. Pavia about it, and he went out of his way to make sure I got it back. As a junior, the fact that he was willing to go out of his way to keep that freedom for me was very cool. He’s very open to letting us come and go, and if he pushes us to express our freedoms, we’re just going to love him that much more.”
When a problem arises that does need to be addressed, Mr. Pavia analyzes the issue before making a decision. “He has an uncanny ability to read situations perceptively and make rational, well-founded decisions,” Ms. Luhtala said.
The result is that privileges aren’t taken from the majority of students for what a few people did. “When addressing problems, I look at the scale and scope of the issue and try to come up with a solution,” Mr. Pavia said.
Mr. Pavia’s attitude is reflected in the recent decisions regarding Homecoming week. “As I’ve said before, Homecoming is not my favorite week,” Mr. Pavia said. “I look at privileges case by case. When students wanted to restore a day during Homecoming, I didn’t want to go along with it; but then, they really asked me. I felt that the kids who came to me were serious enough, and I listened to them.”
Because of Mr. Pavia’s policy for addressing problems, members of the school community respect the few limitations that are set in place. “He believes in addressing problems at their root rather than fabricating restrictive policies to prevent problems from ever occurring,” Ms. Luhtala said. “It eliminates the arbitrary factor, and it makes us all eager to comply with the few guidelines he establishes.”
Students recognize that these limitations are necessary and are put into place for a reason. “They don’t spoil us,” senior Elbek Abasov said. “If we asked for no breathalyzers, they wouldn’t allow it, and they limit Spirit Week. They give us enough privileges so that we can have fun, but at the same time not so we wreak havoc on the school. It’s a nice balance.”
As a result of the privileges that students are given, students see administrators and teachers less as superior rule-enforcers and more as mentors with whom they can develop relationships. “Students see more of a real, approachable person than an authority figure,” junior Molly Robustelli said. “You’re doing the right thing because they trust you, and you don’t want to do anything that would break that trust. It’s more of a relationship, rather than just having to obey rules because they’re set in place.”
Because of this, a true sense of community has developed within the school. “Trust between the administration and teachers with students is something that’s really important for school chemistry and creating a community,” Molly said. “It gives us the freedom to choose what actions reflect who we are, and in turn everyone gets to be an individual in the school.”
Students and teachers agree that the freedom allowed within the school prepares students better for after they graduate. “Mr. Pavia knows we’re all capable and he gives us a chance to fulfill that legacy and responsibility, which moves us forward in life,” junior Dylan Kavookjian said. “All that culminates in the school preparing you better than most schools, not just for college, but for the work force and the rest of your life.”
One thought on “Part 3 – Maintaining a culture of student freedom”
Comments are closed.