New policies at Oakton have room for improvement

It’s first period. You walk in to class and take your seat in the back of the room. You didn’t have time to eat at home this morning, so you pull out a bagel and begin chowing down on your breakfast. Your teacher reminds you that you are no longer allowed to eat in class, Frustrated, you look at the board to write down your homework: taking notes on chapter two of your online textbook. However, you realize you don’t have a planner in which to write important dates and assignments.
In first period alone, you were subject to several changes that Oakton has implemented this school year. While Oakton has valid reasons for these changes, it’s difficult to ignore the stress that some of these changes put on students.
First, we are no longer allowed to eat in class because of concerns about students with allergies. But it would make much more sense to eliminate common foods that cause allergies, such as food containing nuts, than to eliminate the privilege of eating altogether. Empty, growling stomachs are likely to distract students during class, which complicates both the teaching and the learning process.
Fairfax County has been incorporating online textbooks into our curriculum over the past few years, so the use of online textbooks is not a new concept. FCPS introduced online textbooks by providing access to them which we may use occasionally throughout the year. However, in FCPS’ attempt to shift all of our textbooks online, we now find ourselves hunched over the computer for hours to complete our homework. Although FCPS may prefer these online textbooks, students are put at a disadvantage. In order to do our schoolwork we must have access to a computer, and for those of us who stay late after school for sports or extracurricular activities or even those of us who need to share a computer at home, our studying time is exceedingly limited.
In past years, Oakton gave agendas to each student at the school, and students were expected to use these agendas to write down assignments and important test dates. This year, however, only the freshmen received these agendas, and any other student who wanted an agenda had to purchase one at the school store. Although students have complained endlessly to teachers and administrators about this decision, many students that received agendas in the past do not even use them. Freshmen receive agendas so that they can experiment with this form of organization, but older students already know whether these agendas are helpful to them. This decision is a matter of common sense and promotes budget efficiency for Oakton.
Overall, it seems that Oakton has put a lot of thought into the development of these new policies. However, as it is difficult to please everyone, there is always room for improvement. As the FCPS promotion of online textbooks is not solely an Oakton decision, there is little that can be done about it. Oakton may want to consider ordering extra textbooks so students who have difficulty accessing a computer can check out copies of their book. Other than that, although not everyone is satisfied with this year’s changes, Oakton is taking steps to make our school a better environment for both students and teachers.