1st Place, Informative Feature
2022-23, Division 3, News Writing
By Willa Cornillie & Quinn Martin
Portrait
East Lansing HS
Nick Chenault has always considered himself a ‘big spirit guy’–for as long as he’s attended the high school, he’s loved showing his support for the school at games and events whenever he could. That’s what brought him to the basket- ball game against DeWitt on Jan. 19.
As Chenault walked out of the building that night after the game, he saw several groups of students arguing in the parking lot outside of the athletic entrance. Sitting in his car, he watched in fear as a large fight broke out in the parking lot between students who were also leaving the game. After seeing the conflict escalate from his car and watch- ing as math teacher Madi Zink struggled to break up the fight on her own, he decided he needed to step in.
“All I could think of was to get out and help one of the best teachers we have at this school,” Chenault said at the board meeting on Jan. 23. “And little did I know there was a firearm within four feet of me. I had no clue. On my own school property.”
In an email the next Monday, Principal Shannon Mayfield said that this was the same group of students who have been in an ongoing conflict throughout the year, engaging in fights in and outside of the school.
After the events of that week, Chenault wanted to see immediate change within the school. He played a role in the walkout that occurred during excel on Thursday, Jan. 26, and also spoke at the walkout. He called for change in policy handbooks and school safety procedures alongside several other students.
“The district has continued to neglect the student’s needs over and over again,” Chenault said at the walkout. “The students and staff are the ones in the buildings; the school board may have meetings in the building but they don’t see what goes on first hand every day. They don’t have to walk through the school wondering if the person next
to them is going to start a fight or have to worry about if they even attend our school.”
This moment was also recounted by Chenault at a school board meeting on Monday Jan. 23. The events of Jan. 19 and 20 pushed staff, students and par- ents to share their accounts of violence within the district and their worries about student safety at school–which resulted in hours of public comment at that meeting.
Chelnaut’s dad, Delbert Chenault, among many others, spoke at the meeting expressing his disappointment and horror at the events happening at the school and the lack of action taken by the school.
“My son, as a senior, was then put into the position of having to decide, ‘is my personal safety sitting in my vehicle more important or should I come out to help this teacher who is overwhelmed by kids?,’” Delbert said. “He was put into a position to then become a security guard to help this teacher.”
School-wide call for change
The fight after the Jan. 19 basketball game was just the beginning of what would end up being a chaotic week for students and staff. Two shelter-in-places were called on Jan. 24 and 27, which raised anxiety among students and prompted hundreds to leave once they were lifted.
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During the shelter-in-place on Jan. 24,
which was called to investigate a report- ed weapon, there was misunderstanding among students thinking that the school was undergoing a more serious level of lockdown due to communication from Mayfield to the community that the high school “executed an internal lockdown.”
During the next shelter-in-place
two days later, a student needed to be escorted out of the building by ELPD. Neither of the shelter-in-places were due to fighting.
“A shelter-in-place is called when we need to limit movement in the building,” Associate Principal Ashley Schwarzbek said. “We call them for a variety of reasons including issues related to student safety, privacy, or even medical concerns. They are generally called when we need teachers to hold all students in their classrooms so administration can deal with an issue in the safest way possible.”
After the week’s events, a meeting was called between administrators, teachers and school staff to discuss the list of suggestions the school board would consider for the special meeting on Jan. 30.
The morning before the special board meeting, the district sent out an email outlining immediate changes that would be happening in the high school, which was read to all students by their first hour teachers earlier that morning. This included: stricter enforcement of safety procedures already in place, a limitation of student entry points in the school to only Door 1, increased supervision and monitoring of hallways and bathrooms during passing period and during class, a restriction on hall passes for the first and last ten minutes of class, elimination of excel passes for two weeks and the availability of a District Wellness Leader for staff and students.
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A solution from community members and students has been a push for more security. The high school has 86 doors according to administration, many of which are unalarmed and extremely difficult to monitor. This has led to a security issue since students frequently open these doors to let people in from the outside without the school knowing.
Additionally, students and community members have also called for the return of a school resource officer in conversations on social media and at school board meetings. The school had one prior to the 2019-2020 school year, but it was eliminated because of concerns about the environment that was created with the presence of an armed guard, after protests responding to the murdering of George Floyd.
“You guys are dropping the ball on the diversity front,” parent Sam Hosey said while addressing the school board at the meeting Jan 30. “You’re talking about safety, which is a symptom of a deeper issue… how can kids be expected to figure it out when this is a totally different culture than what they may be used to.”
The recent events have brought to light the lack of diversity among teachers at the high school. As of the end of January, there are only a handful of teachers of color in the building. There has been a push for more diverse teaching staff, intensive mandatory counseling to help students to work through issues, and the consideration of reinstating In-School-Suspension which gives students guidance during their suspension and can use the time productively while still being out of the classroom space.
Nala Noel (11) spoke out at both the walkout and the board meeting Jan. 30. She talked about her personal experienc- es with discrimination and her concerns about responses from the district and community.
“No one will be affected nor hit as hard by this as the students of color, specifically the black community in East Lansing,” Noel said at the walkout on Jan. 26. “There are too many people who will take this as a green light for further racial profiling, unjust treatment and punishment in general. We wouldn’t have gotten to this point if we addressed the root cause of this aggression intended to the needs of the students.”
More long term changes are still in the works. A variety of options have been considered, but require more input from staff and students before any implementation happens. These include a change to the cell phone and backpack policy, requiring staff and students to wear IDs, reinstatement of a school resource officer, addition of metal detectors and addition of other personnel to assist in implementing new changes.
Checking in with Chenault, one week later
Though Chenault is a senior, he also has a sister who is just starting high school, and worries about the environ- ment that she may be in for the next four years.
“I’m worried that if the board, administrators, etc. don’t do some sort of change other than putting on a list that they’ve come up with, it could possibly get worse,” Chenault said. “And also for any other students. Have to be in this building and they shouldn’t feel unsafe.”
A week later, after the new policies were put in place, Chenault could see the changes happening within the school. He felt that–at least for the time being–the environment in the building had improved. One change he found most noticeable was the teachers patrolling the hallways, which is volunteer-based for additional pay.
“I think [the hallway environment] has gotten a lot better,” Chenault said. “I go to the bathrooms now and it doesn’t seem as bad because there’s a lot more supervision and making sure that nothing is going on.”
The current hall monitoring system is not the long-term plan, and is currently only put in place as a temporary solution. Board members, administrators, teachers and other staff members are still forming plans of larger changes to come.
“I think as we go forward, I think it gets better. And I think that mentality stays more positive,” Chenault said. “As students and teachers we are the ones who are in the building. So I feel like they couldn’t ignore us and just not listen and not take what we wanted to say.”
NW-12. Informative Feature
The entry should be a single story, which should inform or instruct. Judges will not consider sidebars, infographics or other elements packaged with the story. Facts are obtained from research, interviews and observations. Submit a PDF of the print page(s) on which the story was published or the URL to the story on an online news site.
JUDGING CRITERIA
- Leads capture attention, arouses curiosity
- Topic relevant to interests and/or welfare of school or students
- Thorough investigation through research and interviews
- Combines basics of good news and feature writing
- Organized with smooth transitions
- Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely and vividly
- Uses proper diction and grammar
- Balanced and fair presentation
- Story relies on information from primary sources gathered/interviewed directly by the journalist(s); general Internet sources and secondary media reports are used sparingly