Page 5 - Edgewood 1 2019

Mr. Bryan Fenzl is our new band director. He enjoys exploring Florida with his family as he is
somewhat new to the Sunshine State. His previous experience includes teaching in Texas and Virginia.
He also enjoys going to
the beach and attending sporting events.
Mr. Fenzl also likes being able to interact with different students as this is a JR/SR High school.
“It’s really neat. This is a great school to be apart of, being a choice school and also being a JR/SR... it’s a refreshing experience for me. It’s been awesome so far,” Fenzl said.
Same School, New Rules Story by Rhiannon Drysdale
It is the dawn of a new school year at Edgewood. As with all new school years, this one comes with changes to school policy. The most notable changes are: an updated cell phone contract, assigned lockers, and less autonomy during Indian Time.
According to the student handbook, students are allowed
to have cell phones during the day, but they can only be used before and after school and must be turned off and not visible during the school day.
In practice, this only applies during class time, and in previous years, the consequences were often up to the teacher. For instance, some teachers might allow cell phones to be used as long as they are being used for
an academic purpose. Some teachers might not mind if a student checked their messages, as long as they were not disrupting class. And some might descend upon the unlucky student leaving a phone on their desk with an immediate referral.
What has changed since last year, however, is that
the punishments for phone- related transgressions are now
standardized. A particular teacher may decide whether or not to enforce the cell phone contract to the letter, but all teachers now are required to follow school policy for consequences.
“Students are so addicted
to their cell phones... It’s really important that they are able to put that away, focus on certain things, and then come back to it,” said Ms. Jackie Ingratta. “Our goal is if you have something, or you need something, just seek permission.”
The updated cell phone policy did not come as a surprise to many students, but something that certainly did was the new policy of assigned lockers. While in previous years, students were given the freedom to select a locker in a specific area on the second day of school, this year students were greeted with their designated locker number on their schedule at registration. All they needed to do was find the locker, and put their school lock on it.
The former policy led to the annual mass stampedes vying for the best lockers, but it also allowed for more convenient locker locations. For instance, some students might prefer lower
lockers so they do not have to lift their books as high to get them into their locker, and some students might prefer higher lockers because they themselves are taller. Any and all reasons aside, students can no longer have their locker be located next to those of their friends, unless it is through coincidence.
“A lot of our students don’t use a locker,” Ingratta said. “So we figured, let’s give the assigning of lockers a try.”
Finally, Indian Time last year was something that many students took for granted. Students would group up in hallways, sitting
down and eating their lunches
and blocking any and all passage beyond them—and perhaps worst of all, they would return even after asked to leave multiple times. In retrospect, the new rules are not exactly a surprise.
This year, students are expected to be in one of the approved Indian Time areas.
Ms. Katie Reninger came to Edgewood last year as a replacement for Mr. Daniel Evans. She started teaching at Edgewood two days after winter break. She teaches seventh grade science and Career and she’s also very interested in snakes; in fact, she keeps
her ball python in her room behind her desk. “Some of the people were very scared of
the snake at first, but all the kids love it,” says Ms. Reninger.
She also has three shed snake skins on her shelf which belonged to an Eastern Indigo snake, a rattlesnake, and a Coral snake. Before she came to Edgewood she had just graduated from the University of Florida.
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