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Student complaints about new wing persist (11/03)
By Fiona Wozniak   
Nov. 25, 2003
The signs bearing the words “forbidden zone” and “stink vent” may be gone, but the problem remains.

Seniors Patrick Weaver and Tyler Colyer, “Mystery Prankster’s three and two,” have come forward to reveal the reasons for their signs.

The “stink vent” sign, which hung above a sewer vent in the passageway near the locker rooms, was simply meant to be a friendly warning.

“We believe that the stink vent may be hazardous to people’s health,” Weaver said. “It smells like an open sewer line.” “I walked past the area and smelled something,” assistant principal Peter Van Court said. “I reported it because it was foul. We hadn’t gotten any complaints from students. The new inspector has ordered it to be flushed out. We think what happened was waste from heavy rains, like old leaves got trapped down in it, and that is why it smelled.”

"We wrote a letter asking why our signs were torn down .”

Patrick Weaver, senior

The “stink vent” sign met some difficulties. “We put up the sign, but the first time, it came down,” Colyer said. “The second time, someone ripped it down and put it on his body. We believe the third sign was taken down by the Man.”

The “forbidden zone” sign that hung at the two gated-off entrances to the area between the new and old buildings displayed Weaver and Colyer’s personal interpretation of the area, according to Weaver.

“We felt that we were being kept out of the (forbidden zone) psychologically,” Weaver said. “Why else would the gates be there?”

Colyer agreed. “There are only two purposes for gates,” Colyer said. “To keep people in and to keep people out.”

“The architect was concerned about the noise between buildings,” Van Court said. “It was concrete, concrete, concrete. So he decided to make it non-student friendly. That is why there are gates and a narrow walk way. There are classrooms right there, and the noise would interfere far too much.”

After the “forbidden zone” signs disappeared, Colyer and Weaver said that they felt that they should personally inform Van Court of their concerns with the area.

“We wrote a letter asking why our signs were torn down,” Weaver said. “We have yet to get a response.”

Weaver and Colyer’s letter was a response to the school’s uncaring attitude towards the places students have to sit and relax at.

“We used to sit on a patch of grass between the buildings,” Weaver said. “They covered it with what looks like shredded bark. We can’t sit there. It feels as if the school has left us nowhere to go. They have done nothing to improve or add places for students to hang out, instead they have taken places away.”

“I was going to have students respond to the letter,” Van Court said. “I didn’t want it to become an us against them situation.”
 
 

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