Mounds View’s administration faces many important decisions when trying to provide the best environment for learning. The administration adapts its policies based on the problems at hand and how it thinks Mounds View could better improve students’ education. Although these changes are meant to improve the school, every time a decision is made there is a risk of controversy and backlash from students.

In fact, some find fault with the way the administration addresses issues in general. “I don’t think they [the administration] make any logical decisions when it comes to helping out the students,” said Rebecca Jiang, 12. “I feel like they try to look at the greater picture for the school as a whole rather than focus on what’s good for individual students.”

For instance, upperclassmen have noticed a shift in the environment since the classes of 2022 and 2023 began attending Mounds View. “The class of 2022 and 2023 have ruined Mounds View and have taken away our freedom. The class of 2021 will be the last good class here,” said Amelia Sparks, 11. Restrictions on freedom that are often associated with underclassmen behavior, such as recent ReFLECT changes, have frustrated many upperclassmen. “I don’t like how they are changing the whole environment here because of the new freshman and sophomore classes, because it is affecting all the other classes when they [the administration] should be just monitoring a specific class,” said Clara Gustafson, 11.

With changes to the rules surrounding ReFLECT, the administration is trying to crack down on unproductive behavior and encourage students to focus on tasks that will help their learning, but many believe the administration should be more lenient. “[The administration] should be more relaxed about the simple stuff. We are growing up, and I don’t think they should be in control of us all the time, like hardcore parenting,” said Kyle Oberreit, 11.

Although the administration’s intent is to benefit students, and many take advantage of ReFLECT to complete schoolwork, others believe it is a waste of time. “Whenever there is ReFLECT days, you go in the library and you are trapped there, and the whole process is dumb, and in my opinion the whole idea of REFLECT is dumb,” Oberreit said.

Even though a lot of students see flaws in recent changes Mounds View has made, some students also see problems with policies that have been around for a long time, such as Mounds View’s open campus. “One time I was not let back into the school because of the closed campus after I went and got something to eat because the food here isn’t appealing to me,” Gustafson said. Similarly, Oberreit said an open campus would be a nice addition. “My buddy Ethan and I have a free fourth hour, and it would be nice to go out to eat or go pick something up from home. And to solve the problem of kids leaving school is to make a call home; it’s just that simple,” Oberreit said.

Other students find themselves frustrated with bathrooms being locked regularly, which many believe has resulted from their continued misuse. “The locked bathrooms all the time are a big problem. Like, I don’t care what people are doing in there, but if I got to go, then they better be unlocked,” Oberriet said. “There are different ways to solve the problem of vandalism and vaping in the bathrooms besides locking them.”

In recent years, Mounds View has turned its attention to the problem of mental health and has put more effort into helping students. Students have recognized this effort, but it seems they have not experienced any significant change in the environment. “Mental health is still an unsolved problem here at Mounds View,” Jiang said. “I don’t see any of the trends getting better, and they are putting an effort towards it, but it’s clearly not working.”

It is evident that although students can see the administration’s efforts to better Mounds View, there is still a lot of work to be done to raise Mounds View to students’ standards. Perhaps Jiang put it best: “I’d rather be in a dumpster than be here at Mounds View.”