When word got out that OHS would be having an almost completely new administration, many of us felt uneasy. However, as the year has progressed we have adjusted.
What has helped us feel better about all the changes that have been made is our new principal and his Kowboy pride. Mr. Jones has made it clear that he is more than happy to answer questions and make this an overall fun year for the student body.
One example of Mr. Jones’ efforts is this year’s Spirit Week. First, people were saying that there wouldn’t be a Spirit Week; then there were rumors about Mr. Jones turning down Scottie Rodriguez, the senior president, and his ideas, which made the class of 2015 feel cheated in a way.
It was said that instead of going with our senior president’s ideas of having a Neon Day, Camouflage Day, and Throwback Thursday, Mr. Jones had a group of teachers and staff members come up with the themes themselves ? completely discarding any attempts from our officers to be a part of such an important event.
However, Rodriguez clarified that these rumors are not true.
He stated that coming up with the Spirit Week themes was a “consideration and deliberation process that Taja Collier (senior class vice president), Mr. Jones, Mr. Jackson and I all made together, and had a lot of thought put into it.”
When asked about these allegations, Mr. Jones expressed his disappointment considering he believes it’s important for our students to be able to participate as much as possible.
“There was never a question about doing various things for Spirit Week, I was one hundred percent behind coming up with activities - always have been, always will be - because this school is about the students, not the administration,” Mr. Jones said.
So far many of us can agree that Mr. Jones has showed his support of school activities, sports, and even our newspaper.
During our press conference, held at the beginning of this school year, he was very open and willing to answer every question that our staff asked.
Questions about the seven periods, two lunches, and 21st Century were answered without hesitation.
Mr. Jones informed us about how much he knew of the seven periods, which was basically as much as everyone else did at first considering it was a decision that was made by the district early this past summer.
He also made sure to let us know that his plans of having a one hour lunch is still on the agenda for next year, which will make up for not having 21st Century anymore by allowing students to be tutored in classes they’re failing for half of the lunch period.
We can all agree that our new principal’s cooperativeness is reassuring, and we look forward to seeing what else he has in store for Osceola High School.
