Upon arriving to school Sept. 11, students can only expect to spend the day remembering and honoring those who perished on that fateful day in 2001. However, this year was a little different. The Pledge of Allegiance and the moment of silence that are usually announced at the beginning of first period were seemingly neglected.
First period Jag, a class centered around the topic of work after college, is usually responsible for the daily routine of announcing the pledge from the phone in their classroom. On the morning of September 11th though, Coach Johnson, the teacher for Jag, was not present, and a substitute was supposed to be sent to cover his classroom for the day. Unfortunately, that did not happen. The substitute didn’t arrive for the duration of the entire first period, and the students in Jag weren’t even able to get into the classroom. Because of this, students just sat in the halls or perhaps even left, as they were left unattended for almost an hour.
The students, particularly senior Dalton Doss, who was in charge of the pledge that day, could not be blamed for the disappointing fact that it was never announced. So where does the fault lie, then? Perhaps with the office, for two reasons. First of all, no one was even sent down to supervise the kids, much less teach them. Secondly, someone should have noticed that the pledge and the moment of silence were not announced and simply done it from the office. It’s sad that people these days don’t have patriotism or appreciation for our country and those who are still fighting to keep it safe. What is two minutes out of first period to honor and reflect on those who lost their lives?
Eventually, though, this issue was brought to the attention of the staff and the pledge of allegiance and the moment of silence were carried out by the office. It is a good thing that someone realized it and did something about it, but does it overshadow the wrongness of forgetting and overlooking it in the first place? Clearly it is not the students’ fault, but the administration’s for not even having a substitute in the first place. Even getting someone to stand in and watch as the students do whatever it is that they need to do seems like such an easy solution, but not even that happened. Maybe in the future, the administration will prevent other disappointing events like this one from occurring.
