As I walked around the school, I looked at empty hallways and areas once filled with things that represented us. The student body. A new fire marshal (Alvin Fry) has ordered LHS to follow a heavy set of regulations. This level of enforcement has not been rigidly enforced for decades, why now? Why strip LHS of its colors and pride? Why take away our cultural expressions? Teachers are forced to remove anything covering their windows, which would allow active shooters to see inside classrooms. That's not a chance I want to take. All of our international flags in the cafeteria must be taken down. These represent a diverse and collective student body. They show that LHS is one of the most diverse schools in the state. 

If we don't act and speak up, we will lose the sense of pride and belonging that is uniquely ours. After speaking to administrators, custodians, teachers, and students, most feel this enforcement is negligent and unnecessarily strict. 

If we don't act now, we will lose our school pride. We can speak up by sharing petitions, and by writing letters to the state marshal's office. We can do the right thing. We can put differences aside and make sure our school pride and enthusiasm for learning and diversity are not stripped from us.