Administration Implements New Policies to Address Student Misconduct

The B-CC administration released new policies to quell students’ “destructive behavior,” according to Dr. Mooney. The new policies include random hall sweeps and requiring students to sign out when leaving a classroom. “In the event of a hall sweep, we will make an announcement that we are conducting a hall sweep and ask teachers to lock their doors,” Dr. Mooney told teachers in an email sent on June 6. 

“We have seen a marked increase in destructive behaviors at B-CC over the past few days, including graffiti and vandalism in several areas of the building,” wrote Dr. Mooney in the May 30 community message while explaining the new protocols’ reasoning, adding, “As we look to maintain the safety and security for everyone in the building, we will be implementing the following protocols for the remaining days of school.”

Vandalism is an issue that has been persistent at B-CC throughout the entire year. Earlier this year, two Swastikas were found at B-CC (read more about this incident here). Additionally, B-CC has seen an Uptick in student misbehavior in recent weeks, worsening as the school year ends. “We have also had a lot of instances where we had students just wandering the halls,” said Dr. Mooney, adding, “So what we are trying to do is really pay attention to who is in class and who’s out of class… that’s what the goal is of the policy.” 

“It’s really frustrating because it’s such a small portion of the student body that’s causing these issues, and their protocols are mostly affecting everyone else who isn’t actually vandalizing,” said B-CC sophomore Frances Doyle, adding, “I don’t think that these new protocols are going to work because a lot of vandalism happens when students skip class, so signing out will be sort of pointless and hard to enforce.” 

Some B-CC students need clarification on the effectiveness of these new policies. “It’s so late into the year that I doubt these policies will work,” said junior Andy Flynn, adding, “They’ve tried to stop issues like this so many times this year, and with students being burned out at the end of the year, I doubt this will be the policy to finally work.” Flynn is referring to the Policy Palooza that has taken place at B-CC throughout the school year, where admin has continued releasing a series of new policies to combat student misbehavior.