I lean over to my friends, swivel my head from side to side, and then begin my story. Now that teachers are monitoring us in the Stacks Room, we must be very cautious about what words slip past our lips, whether they be about grades, college, teachers, or boys.
The stacks room is our safe haven, our lounge, a place to talk to our friends, do work, and sprawl out on the big, comfy chairs. It’s the one place students have in the school where we feel a weight lifted off our shoulders when we enter.
But now, teachers have been planting themselves in chairs, going about their work, while trying not to listen attentively. Contrary to popular belief, teachers are humans too, and their ears can perk up if something is of interest. “It’s an invasion of a space we use to relax, unwind, and speak freely,” said Emi Santandreu ’15.
No one announced this new change. The students just began to catch on, and word got around quickly as it usually does through the Hewitt halls. “The administration implemented the change to be mindful of noise and mess; however, it is not a study hall by any means. It is simply teachers and students sharing a space,” Ms. Stevens cleared up.
The Stacks Room is in full view of people visiting our school because of the windows that border its west side facing the Collaboration Room (AKA The Fishbowl). Teachers are not suggesting that we must put on a show for the visitors to pretend to be a school that we are not, but the space should look like it is used respectfully, clear of empty cups of goldfish, cheese stick wrappers, and Zitomer’s bags.
“I ‘proctor’ the stacks once a week, 1:30-2:30 PM on Tuesdays,” Mrs. Gallin explained to me. “The task is officially called ‘Stacks monitoring,’ and I think that the need for it is unfortunate but real. The reason for the need includes students leaving the place a filthy mess and students engaging in emotionally destructive conversations.”
Any Hewitt student would agree that the talk that fills the air in the stacks room is toxic. “I heard it in the stacks room,” is a common expression Hewitt girls say when someone doubts our source for a piece of information. Everyone knows that you can’t trust all that is said there; our peers are not (yet) professionals in their fields. It is best, instead, to talk to any of the many teachers and faculty members we have at our school, whom we can use as resources when we have questions.
As understandable as the administration’s intentions are, there are a lot of things said in the Stacks Room that students feel are best kept among themselves.