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Vandalism in the high school is getting out of control. Devious licks in the beginning of the school year started it off. Mainly in the bathrooms people are writing on the stalls. Accourding to the article "Divious licks' TikTo challenge hasstudents vandalising school bathrooms" posted on the website The Guartdian for 200 years, news section. Students went as far as taking turf from their schools feilds. If people decided to keep up the school instead of trash it maybe less people will keep vandalising becasuse "it is already a crappy school".

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There is a lot of food waste that happens in our school. According to the New York Times article "What Students are saying about Improving School Lunches" from Jack Zhou states that "Most people just throw the food in the trash" If we had something like a share table where you could put the packaged items like fruit cups or vegetables the food waste at MHS would go down a lot and people could get extra food if they wanted.

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Moorhead High School does a good job in providing enough activities but can improve on motivating students to get more involved. The school should motivate students to get more involved in school sports and/or clubs due to the social interactions students may have with others. According to a 2021 article by Physical Educator, social interaction comes with benefits. "during an activity: motivation, safety purposes, adherence to activities, and time to talk with their partner/friend". The school should encourage students to be more involved in school activities due to the benefits that emerge from social interaction.

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Schools across the nation have struggled with disciplanary action since returning to in-person learning after nearly 2 years of being remote, MHS is no exception. Since returning to school this fall, both students and faculty at MHS have noticed more frequent (and extreme) behaviorial issues. In an article published on the Times Union titled “The pandemic has made school discipline more complicated” notes this pattern and states, “In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools throughout the region are seeing heightened behavioral challenges — fights, vandalism and general disrespect from students — raising difficult questions about how to best approach school discipline in times of crisis.” It is important that the school combats against behaviorhal outbreaks in a safe and effective manner that is in the best interest for all students. With the complex state of the world seemingly leading to a rise in behavior issues, school faculty is stuck trying to figure out new tactics to control the behavior problem at MHS which is was made difficult by a gap in some students structure while school was remote.

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MHS should focus on updating their sex education curriculum to better educate students of all sexual oreintation about their sexual health. In an articles titled “Sexual Health Education Is Not Just Good Public Policy, It’s The Law” published in the Honolulu Civil Beat discusses a new bill going to the Senate that would require the Department of Education to provide comprehensive sexual health training for teachers. The article states, “existing sexual education standards within secondary schools in the State are not providing students with the knowledge and tools necessary to make responsible, informed, and empowered choices about their sexuality, gender, relationships, and sexual and reproductive health … Comprehensive sex education that covers forms of sexual expression, healthy sexual and non-sexual relationships, diverse identities across gender and culture, sexual orientation, and consent is vital to ensuring that students feel safe and empowered to learn, ask questions, and make positive choices for themselves.” This updated Sexual Health Education curriculum is more inclusive in providing updated information about sexual health for students of all sexual orientation and gender identity. Having an improved Sex Ed program in school will help prevent STDs, STIs, and unwanted pregnancies.

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The use of the unweighted GPA system at MHS gives an inaccurate representation of students’ academic success and discourages students from taking challenging courses. The article “Weighted GPA vs. Unweighted GPA: Which Do Colleges Look At?” On The College Post states “The main problem with an unweighted GPA is that if you’re taking Advanced Placement (AP) or honors classes, the extra effort and skill of your coursework isn’t reflected in your GPA.” For example, this would mean a student taking an AP Chemistry course, one where they are challenged and recieve a B+, would negatively impact their GPA. For an unweighted GPA system, the student would recieve a 3.3 GPA for this course. For a weighted GPA system, the student would have recieved a 4.3 GPA, encouraging students to continue to challenge themselves in academics. If the student in the unweighted GPA system wanted to maintain their 4.0 GPA they might instead take a less challenging course to act as a safety net, like taking Chem Com when they were capable of taking AP Chem. MHS should use a weighted GPA system to push their students to reach their full academic potential.

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MHS needs better enforcement of security.
according to a survey by youth truth.org they studied students and where they felt most safe in there schools. the highest was 66% of students feeling safe in classrooms the lowest was 54% of those students feeling safe in there hallways and bathrooms. this shows that only half of all the students felt safe in there school, particularly in there hallways and bathrooms.
At MHS some of the least disciplined areas of the school are the hallways and bathrooms, these are the same areas students around the nation have said they feel least safe. having better security in these areas would hopefully help increase the percent of people feeling safe.

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Food insecurity is a big issue in the Fargo-Moorhead area. "62% of adults and 17% of children skip meals regularly" (Hunger and Food Insecurity Cass-Clay Community Snapshot February 2019). This has become a bigger issue throughout the pandemic as students had less access to school breakfasts and lunches.

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There is a problem at Moorhead High School in the way students are evaluated. According to a 2020 School of Education article, "a one-size-fits-all approach to testing is arguably biased because it fails to account for variables such as language deficiencies, learning disabilities, or varying knowledge of US cultural conventions." Students are pressured to focus on learning maths and English, rather than arts and history, and teachers are pressured by the school administration to improve test scores to prove their teaching abilities. Teachers at MHS have been seen to grade depending on student behavior, as well as create assignments specifically designed for students to do poorly. MHS should do a better job of creating different ways of evaluating a student's abilities in the classroom.

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Drug abuse in Highschools including MHS is a problem. by 12th grade more than 2 of 3  US students have tried alcohol reports a study done by the American Addiction Center. org. Their study also showed that with marijuana about 1 in 16 high school seniors used marijuana every day within the year of 2017.
This issue is prevalent in Moorhead highschool. Just look at one of the bathrooms during the day and you will see more use of drugs than toilets.

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Something needs to be done about the weed usage and distribution on school property at our school. The article "Secondhand marijuana smoke" on no-Smoke.org explains the dangers. "Secondhand marijuana smoke contains many of the same cancer-causing substances and toxic chemicals as secondhand tobacco smoke." the article continues and states that it, "...contains fine particulate matter that can be breathed deeply into the lungs,ii which can cause lung irritation, asthma attacks, and makes respiratory infections more likely." Smoking weed is not only illegal for all the students at MHS, but it is also completely wrong for all nonsmoking students to be exposed to harmful chemicals in the school that is supposed to keep them safe. I have smelt weed in the hallways and bathrooms many times and I know many people at school can relate. This is something that underage students in schools should not have to experience.

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Moorhead High School students should try to avoid littering in the hallways, even more importantly, avoid littering outdoors. According to a 2019 writing by Lifestyle, "Plastic debris hurts more than just the natural landscape.
"It affects wildlife in two ways: entanglement and
ingestion," says Eriksen." I know that many of us do not want to harm the animals in our environment, so lets strive to avoid littering.

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I think the discipline for bullying and disrespect towards teachers need to be better. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, "In 2017–18, about 14 percent of public schools reported that bullying occurred among students at least once a week. About 6 percent of public schools reported student verbal abuse of teachers, 12 percent reported acts of student disrespect for teachers other than verbal abuse, . . ." Although bullying among students have decreased the issue is still prevalent. It has also has become more of an issue among teachers. Students disrespect among teachers has increased and there needs to be stronger action to counteract that.

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There is gender inequality within the arts program at Moorhead High School. A Frontiers in Education article states, "teachers are important starting points for promoting gender equality in education as their attitudes and instructional practices are known to influence students' motivation and performance substantially.¨ At Moorhead High School boys have more opportunities in the choir program automatically. Because of the inequality, students may be less likely to join the arts program.

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Moorhead High School needs to focus more on helping kids understand math. According to the Minnesota Repot Card in 2021 37.6% of students did not meet expectations on their MCAs. Only 43.7% of students got meets expectations or above. That is more than 50% of students who cannot meet standard math expectations.

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The community around different activities and sports is bad. We need to work to provide a place where each activity is respected and recognized. The article "Increasing Student Participation, Retention in High School Sports by Nate Perry states that "participation in school-sponsored activities is linked to a higher attendance, grade point averages, educational aspirations, and college acceptance letters". This is important because with more options and a more supportive community more people will want to join different sports/clubs and then can benefit from these benefits.

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Moorhead High Schools disciplinary action is very weak. According to "Doing 'what is best': School disciplinary action designed to help students" written by Zach Potter in 2015 states that, "Discipline and everything else tie into that goal and our mission of helping students become productive members of society." Discipline is to try and help the students get back on track and without discipline, there won't be any change. The article also says, "Sometimes it's a good thing for a student to get charged if they've committed a crime...There are services [that the Juvenile Justice Department] can offer families to help get students on the right path. Sometimes you have to make a charge. You're going to have some disruptive students at times." With discipline, students will change their actions. Sadly in Moorhead High School there is no discipline action, instead they just make friends with the security guards.

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The academic benefit of hands-on learning. - osm

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The academic benefit of hands-on learning. - osm

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Moorhead is alright at incorporating hand on learning into there academic structure but students would benefit in there academics if more classes were able to incorporate more hands-on learning. The Friends Central.org says that "public schools often have tight budgets and less freedom in developing curriculum." this means its harder for some classes to have hands-on learning options in their curriculum. This is unfortunate because they also list how beneficial hands-on learning can be stating: "it can lead to increased retention, offer practice in critical thinking and problem solving, and it often results in physical creation.
I know my grades in geometry would have been better with some more hands-on physical examples. in that class, it just seemed like all we did was notes. actually applying it to physical problems would have been more beneficial for me.
That's just one example of a class I've had at Moorhead that could have used more hands-on learning.

- Owen Seewald-Marquardt

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Moorhead High School offers good technology options that provide greater access to education. According to a GCU article, there are eight benefits of technology in the classroom. They are engagement, collaboration, inclusion, differentiation, productivity, creativity, automation, and future focus. Since our school has provided Chromebooks the creativity and acedemics of our school has blossomed.

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Moorhead needs to have better lunches. According to an article by The Learning Network a student said "although I can attest to how picky some of my peers may be, I believe that some schools do not provide meal plans that reflect the culture and tastes of students." This is a perfect example of how many schools are. They don't always necessarily care about what they are feeding to the students. I know many people who have gotten sick from eating MHDs lunch food. Also it just looks gross.

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MHS staff needs to provide more support for students as they continue through high school. According to Gallup Student Poll Report cited by Education Week, "student engagement drops as students age because older students feel less cared for by adults and see less value in their own work." MHS staff is good at supporting freshman and sophomores as they start high school. But, more support for upperclassmen will help with student engagement.

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Inclusion and relationships between general students and special education students is very important and should be focused on even more then it currently is. According to the article "4 benefits of inclusive classrooms," The Understood Team tell us that "Kids with special education needs who are in inclusive classes are absent less often. They develop stronger skills in reading and math. They’re also more likely to have jobs and pursue education after high school." Although inclusion with the special ed kids at our school has gotten much better, it could show some improvements that could help those students in their life after high school.

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It is no secret that this school lacks student discipline, from loitering in the halls to physical fights and everything in between. Due to Covid aggression and violence have increased significantly, Crystal Thorpe a principal in Indianapolis states, “In the first nine weeks of school, we had more physical aggression in terms of fights than we probably had in the last maybe three or four years combined,” (NBC News, 2022). Even though violence has increased I don't think we should suspend or expel students at a higher rate. We have all gone through something life-changing and it is hard to transition back. Instead of harsh punishments, we should invest in restorative practices that help students readjust back to school. "given research showing that students who are suspended or expelled are more likely to drop out of school or end up in the criminal justice system and that Black and Hispanic students and students with disabilities — the same students who’ve been hit hardest by the pandemic  — are disproportionately subjected to school discipline." (Einhorn, NBC News, 2022). I know the problems at our school are annoying and we want them to go away now, but it might be better for the students and staff to try and ease us all back in.

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Volunteer Opportunities at Moorhead High

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Volunteer Opportunities at Moorhead High

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Moorhead High has opportunities for volunteering not just in the school setting but also in the community. There is lots of importance to volunteering at a young age. The Day of Service Newspaper article tells us, "I feel like it's really important to impact the community and give back," said Courtney Peterson, a Jamestown High School student council member. "So many times the community has done stuff for us and now we're able to give our share to the community in whatever way we think is beneficial." At Moorhead High School we can make an impact in our community and at our school through student council, key club and national honors society. These are ways we can stay involved and have volunteer opportunities.

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Moorhead High School does not include enough diverse literature in the requirements for their English classes. According to a 2020 National Education Association news post, there is a strong need for more diverse reading in schools. "Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native students, who are often stereotyped or overlooked in popular culture, it's personally validating and academically engaging to see themselves and their life experiences reflected on the pages." Students having books and literature in the classroom that reflects themselves is important to creating a diverse school. MHS should do a better job in requiring more diverse literature in the classroom.

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Moorhead High School has done a great job in providing a variety of academic classes for students with different interests and goals. By giving students options to get involved in subjects in which they are interested in may motivate them to get engaged and involved in classroom activities. According to a 2019 research article by Wiley, "Classroom settings, including physical setting...and activities...communicate purposes for academic engagement and set standards for academic success, which influence students’ goal adoptions (A. C. Lam, Ruzek, Schenke, Conley, & Karabenick, 2015)." So by providing a variety of classes to students with diverse interests may increase their classroom engagement, and academic success.

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The parking situation at MHS sucks. According to Donaldson Law, LLC, "In a high school parking lot, there are dozens—if not hundreds—of inexperienced teen drivers who may be in a hurry and distracted. The combination of all these factors increases the risk of teen car crashes and pedestrian accidents." Not only do we have inexperienced drivers, but we also only have one main exit out of the main student lot. This can cause issues, because we have hundreds of cars at the end of the day trying to come in for after school practice and/or go home from school all in and out of the same spot.

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Moorhead High Schools dress code is unfair. According to Escobo, "Students don't hate dress codes, they hate unfair enforcement" states in 2016 that girls are required to "cover up so as not to distract their male peers." Girls shouldn't have to worry about wearing a spaghetti strap top just so that there male peers don't get distracted.

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Academics at Moorhead High has room to improve. As we look back on our past years of class choices, it was very minimal. There has definitely been more improvement, but still, it can be more involved with college courses held at the high school. According to the Getting What They Have Earned article, it states that "College faculty
can take advantage of the opportunities provided by articulation processes to connect with high school instructors, building institution-to-institution collaborations to develop pathways for frst-generation students or those who may have been historically underrepresented in postsecondary education." For first-generation college students or any student wanting to advance their education, it is important to have opportunities to advance their education in high school.

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The inclusion and diversity at MHS has in a way gotten worse through the years. After covid hit everyone was used to being at home and not talking to others in person. Going back to school was different for everyone which I feel made our inclusion change. In an article by Christine Vestal she said that "two months into the fall semester and teachers and students are already saying they need a break." This shows how students already don't like being brought together after being online and away from people for so long.

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Moorhead High School needs more classes that prepare you for life. Although we have a couple classes like personal finance, living on your own, and relationships, those classes tend to contain busy work and not actual life lessons. According to the National Association of Secondary Schools Principals, "students must bring order and stability to their lives, which can not be accomplished without a fundamental mastery of life skills." Adding these classes to the academics of MHS would provide students with increased knowledge about life outside of high school.

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Moorhead High School is full of cliques and isn't inclusive enough. According to the U.S. Department of State in 2017, the effects of being left out socially have the same effects as depression, which include reduced sleep, self esteem and developed anxiety. Kids in high school should not develop anxiety because somebody won't talk to them normally or allow for them to be included with their friends. Moorhead High School needs work on how exclusive the student body is.

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There are so many elective options for students to choose from at MHS which can help keep engagement in the classroom. According to Heather Wolpert-Gawron in her article "The Case for Electives in Schools." "electives...play a huge role in engagement. And because they are highly engaging, electives play a role in keeping our students on campus—especially those reluctant learners and ones who struggle academically." The elective options at our school can help keep kids interested in school while also challenging their other skills that may not seen in the required core classes.

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Moorhead High Schools teachers need to have more effort to help students. According to The Economist in 2016, the top 10% of teachers teach their students three times more material than the worst 10%. That says a lot about how much teachers try and why that matters. Many students would say that they don't understand and that their teacher didn't provide the help they need, myself included. Moorhead High needs more teachers that truly care, creating a community where the students will care just as much.

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The lack of options to help with mental health in Moorhead High School is a problem. In a 2019 New York Times article by Derrick Taylor, it states that an Oregon law is giving students five mental health days in a three-month period. If we do not give students mental health days we risk the chance of suicide rates rising as students are becoming more and more overwhelmed.

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Moorhead High Schools' lack of disciplinary action has led to a hostile environment between students and teachers. As stated in a 2021 Chalkbeat article by a Chicago social worker, schools across the country are experiencing an increase in poor behavior. This behavior includes "students trashing bathrooms, fighting over social media posts, and... refusing to talk". Moorhead High School should install and change their discipline methods to combat the increase in poor behavior post-pandemic.

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The academics at MHS are okay. Statistics from the Public School Review for 2022 states that we have an 87% graduation rate; consequently, ranking MHS in the top 50% in MN. But also according Public School Review we are ranked in the bottom 50%  for overall testing. It also tells us we have a 44% math proficiency, and only a 57% reading proficiency. This shows that with the education system in place less than 50% of students at MHS are succeeding at the core topics.  - Alyshia C

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There needs to be alternatives to expulsions and suspensions because most of the kids who receive these punishments don't want to be in school. According to the article "Teen Court-School Partnerships: Reducing Disproportionality in School Discipline" by Katie Cotter Stalker, over 49 million kids were enrolled in school in the 2011-12 school year and 3.5 million received out of school suspension. This is important to look at because 0.07% of kids weren't in school for a given amount of time and being out of class isn't going to help them do well in school. The article also states "They are thought to influence negative life outcomes and an increased risk for juvenile justice systems".

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Moorhead High School needs to be more strict on rules and enforce a zero tolerance policy. As stated by Association for Career and Technical Education, there are many benefits to enforcing harsh rules. In three years, they saw that there was a thirty five percent decrease in assault on teachers. As well as a thirty three percent drop on threats against teachers. Moorhead High should develop a zero tolerance policy and be a lot more strict on rules regarding paraphernalia, vaping, and attendance.

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Moorhead High School does not have enough involvement with school spirit, especially with pep rallies. According to Explora of October 2017, "Texas school's conjunto pep rally helps boost scores, principal says" written by Charles Scudder states that pep rallies "helped boost test scores at the once-failing school." Moorhead high school has no school spirit with pep rallies and in some schools the use of pep rallies has had their students more active in their learning, therefore getting higher test scores.

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Inclusion at Moorhead High has impacted individuals that are involved in regular education and special education. The Bangor Daily News article from 2015 states that, "I have a lot of unified partners who then go to Special Olympic events and help as timers or just to be fans for their friends. Everybody has strengths and everybody has challenges, and when you work together on something like this, you have the chance to grow together." This shows how inclusion can help individuals be more willing to work with others to grow. We see this in our high school with the adaptive sports teams and our peer to peer leadership groups. When everyone works together we can change peoples lives.

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The lack of student discipline is a problem at MHS. Students are creating problems that are connected to remote learning during the pandemic. According to the Washington Post, "teachers and school administrators across the country say they are seeing a rise in everything from minor misbehaviors to fighting in the hallways." Because we haven't been in school so long, students and teachers are struggling to find ways to survive together.

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There isn't enough discipline towards people who are vaping in the bathroom. In a news article survey it stated that 1 in very 5 high school students vape. Also 70 percent of high school and middle schoolers report signs of nicotine dependency. This shows a problem due to how many high schoolers vape. When people are caught vaping in the school bathrooms there should be more of a consequence, due to how many high schoolers are reported of vaping.