The James Logan Courier

By Beatrice Esteban, Courier Staff Writer

Within the past few days, Logan has gone through a loss of electricity, “rain day,” and a fire alarm that has left both students and staff worried about the state of the school.

It all began on Tuesday. As a result of the pouring rain and beating wind, about 80 percent of Logan’s classrooms were left with no power (http://jameslogancourier.com/index.php?itemid=5498). Although the administration made a clear effort to get in contact with PG&E to fix the problem, normal electricity was not restored and students and staff were told to stay home on Wednesday.

Many students were very relieved to have the day off, but staff made every effort to have the problem fixed. Despite many suggestions that Logan wait until power is restored, Logan resumed session on Thursday with power generators. I was not at Logan on Thursday due to illness, but from what I heard there was also a fire alarm around the time of zero period, and that certain classes running on backup electricity were unable to hear it. Although I heard that the fire alarm stopped a little bit before first period, I would consider that to be a safety hazard above everything. I think that students should be sent home soon in order to prevent any other possible safety hazards (or even casualties). Although the fire alarms are noisy and a bit of an inconvenience, it’s much better to be able to hear them than to possibly run the risk of being in the midst of a fire.

A few people have left comments on The Courier, ranging from pure comedy to pure mockery. However, although I find the current situation to be inconvenient, I do believe that the school is handling the problem very well considering the circumstances. In an announcement to classes on Tuesday, while the power was out, Vice Principal Matt Smith urged teachers to go to The Spot or the cafeteria with their students if they could not conduct class efficiently and safely.

Many students complained about the lack of electricity in their classes, citing it as hindering their ability to learn and blaming the administration. However, in no way was it the administration’s fault that the power went out to begin with. Students should not be blaming the administration for something that they are not able to directly fix.

That being said, it can also be said that teachers are at fault for holding class in the dark and making it difficult for their students to learn. They had the option of moving to The Spot or cafeteria if they felt that they could not securely and proficiently teach their students. Also, if a student objected to having their class held in the dark, they could have told the teacher; I'm sure that most teachers would be happy to make accommodations to make the environment more conducive to learning.

There are many factors that make learning in the school environment difficult, but rather than attempting to find scapegoats for the issues at hand, students should instead focus as best they can on trying to educate themselves.