By Vincent Trinh ’25
Ray Coplin and Jennifer Olson, part of the administrative team at DHS, are emphasizing specific rules and policies prevalent in the school. Coplin spoke up about certain rules/policies at DHS that he felt were not being adequately followed. This is including, but not limited to: dress code, bathroom pass, and phone use.
This year, Coplin and Olson have changed the dress code to fit more comfortable standards. In an interview with Coplin, he said, “There’s a fine line between what’s appropriate and what’s comfortable.”
Along with this, an altered bathroom system has been implemented. The system introduces a bathroom pass in each classroom that comes in the form of a lanyard that allows a student to use the restroom when worn. This has been paired with a monitor who is stationed by the bathrooms and observes if said student has worn the lanyard. When inquired about the reason for this new pass, Coplin explained that the old bathroom pass had inconvenienced teachers and that they wanted a more efficient system that didn’t disrupt the classroom.
Finally, one of the more prevalent policies highlighted is the use of phones in the classroom. The policy simply states that the use of phones is allowed with a green colored card and prohibited with the display of a red card in the classroom. With this, Coplin stated, “I hope the students understand that these policies are for their own wellbeing.”
A different perspective was given in an interview with Quintin Simjouw ‘25 on how the students are taking this new emphasis on the rules. When asked his thoughts on the dress code, he responded with, “I’ve never heard of anyone being dress coded,” and “I didn’t even really know we had a dress code.” He also pointed out that the enforcement of the rules seemed to only be in effect near the beginning of the school year. When it came to his general thoughts on the emphasized rules, he said, “I don’t care, and no one else does.” However, when it came to the state of the bathroom monitoring system he had this to say, “It is awkward and [teachers] do not enjoy it.” According to him, the bathroom monitoring system has inconvenienced teachers further by disrupting their time for grading papers. He simply states, “It’s a lot of work for them,” and that “it interferes more than if they took it out.”
Coplin mentioned one more thing in his interview. The consequences of being found vaping on school grounds have shifted slightly, instead of being level 3 on a scale of 1-5, the discipline level has been raised to a 4. This means that those caught vaping will receive a more severe punishment in the form of out-of-school suspension or a cessation program.
It would seem that DHS students have been under the misconception that the emphasized rules/policies are new rules implemented over the summer. This is not the case; no new rules have been implemented or written. In a final word from Coplin, he clears up the error saying that they are “not new rules, just policies that have fallen to the wayside.”
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