Students at Ogdensburg Free Academy along with all other public schools in New York are affected by ridiculous,and outdated policies. Here are some rules I wish to change:

1. Highlighting name for BOCES - When students come back from BOCES, it can be a hassle to highlight your name in a small room with a bunch of kids flooding in. Especially when it's cold out, and you just want to get inside to be warm, it's annoying having to wait so you have mark yourself present. The thing is, teachers take attendance every period, so there's no need in marking yourself present if a teacher is going to do it a minute later.
2. Swearing punishment - Let's face it: 99% of teenagers swear at some point in their life. I'm no exception, and I don't believe it's right to heavily punish a student for something nearly all of us do. Instead, punish students who swear to intentionally harm someone else, but not just because they're saying it casually.
3. Dress codes - dress codes are completely outdated and highly sexist, favoring males clothing over females. In the OFA dress code, it says nothing about spaghetti straps, or shorts above arms length, yet these clothing choices are not allowed by faculty at OFA. Teachers and staff should not be scrutinized for clothing unless it is 1. directly offensive to another student, group of people, etc. or 2. Inappropriate in terms of sexual/explicit/threatening imagery.
4. Phone usage - Nearly every teenager uses a phone now. And not just for social media or games, but to contact their parents/guardian when they need something. In fact, my good friend got in trouble because he contacted his parents to find out how they were gonna get home. Instead of taking every kids phone at the beginning of class, and getting them in trouble for using them for serious purposes, only take phones when they are disruptive to other students and/or the teachers.
5. Lunches - students across OFA have been complaining about lunch choices. I mean, for every day we have a variety of goods, we have popcorn chicken for the rest of the week. We need alternatives that isn't just chicken, and especially for the vegetarian/vegan community (myself included).

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