Teens feel restricted
 Setting priorities
 Enough to make you go insane
 Going overboard

 Thanks for helping us stand
 Resisting pressures of popularity
 Double standard
 Long-distance

 The 1999 issue home page

     When high school students return to school in the fall, they will face increased security and limited freedoms. Many students across the state are outraged because they believe many of their previous freedoms are now restricted.
"My entire county of Duval is now under a mandatory uniform policy. Unless 25 percent of the students' parents object to this ruling, all lockers at my high school are sealed shut, and they added more security," said Michelle Smith, 17, a senior at Baldwin High in Jacksonville.
     Since many of these changes are a result of the Columbine High School shooting, some students believe that their freedoms are being taken away for something they had no control over. Jennifer Howard, 15, a sophomore at Ridgewood High in New Port Richey, said students at her school are not allowed to have bookbags at any school functions, and while attending any events in the auditorium the audience lights
remain on.
     "At our school dress codes became stricter. The teachers really began paying attention to what the students were wearing on a day-to-day basis," said Marcus Williams and Elliot Martin, both 14 and freshmen at P.K. Yonge High School in Gainesville.
     "At my school there wasn't a dramatic change like other schools around me, but they did make security around Trinity Christian tighter than it was before," said Gary Solano, 16, a junior at Trinity Christian in Jacksonville.
Students who attend school in Polk County feel adding a city curfew, making teens show identification for R-rated movies, and enforcing new dress codes will not prevent another Columbine massacre. They feel each child has a way they express themselves and adding limitations to their everyday life will only make the situation worse. The students do not agree with what took place in Littleton, Colo., but they feel they are being limited.
     William McKeen, journalism department chairman at the University of Florida, said at his son's school, Bloomington High School South in Indiana, the administration has increased security because of the traumatic events that happened during this past school
term.
     "Not only did the students at my son's school have many scares and
threats, one of their fellow classmates had just moved to Littleton before the massacre. This really took a toll on the students. Luckily the student that went to Columbine is all right," McKeen said.
     Ann Luce, 17, a senior at Citrus High in Ocala said, "My school believes that the way the children dress affects their behavior, so they are bringing in an instrument that will measure your length of the students' shorts if questionable."
     Marissa Clarke, a junior at William H. Turner Technical Arts High in Miami, says her school is changing many of its former standards. After the Columbine shooting, school administration enforced stricter dress codes, and students had to wear their identification badge in order to be on campus. If the students arrived at school without the proper uniform and identification they were sent to C.S.I. (in school suspension) for a day. School administrators are also removing children who have a grade point average below a 2.5, and who constantly get in trouble.
     At Hawthorne High students say they have less social time between classes. "At the end of last school term if we were in the hallway for no apparent reason or joked around about killing someone or blowing up the school we were automatically suspended," said Jackie Randall, 15, sophomore at Hawthorne High in Hawthorne.
     This fall school term at Winter Springs High the students will have to pay $70 for parking decals. "We have to pay because the school wants to add more security," said Chris Maness, 17, a senior at Winter Springs High in Winter Springs.
     In some cases, it seems the entire school is locked down. "It's like we can't even go to the bathroom without an escort holding our hand. Students who want to come back, and visit can't even visit any more because we now have a gate security," said Thatine Camargo,17, senior at Hollywood Hills High in Hollywood.
     Students are saying the school system is wrong, but the school systems says they are only protecting the student body. This issue raises a question: are school systems really taking away the students' freedoms or did the students just take their privileges for granted?