"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Benjamin Franklin

For too long, the students of JP McCaskey have been oppressed by the administration. No longer shall this stand. Over the past several years, the administration has stepped over the students for the sake of “safety”. We believe this is the wrong direction to take the school into the future, as it implies students’ inability to take their safety into their own hands. This is, of course, an issue across the country, but with schools taking the forefront into the issue, we could create a more independent generation of McCaskey graduates. Henceforth, we have several issues we would like to take point on and change over time:

1. Free the internet: Countless times, helpful resources for students have been blocked by the various systems implemented by the district over time, while other potentially harmful websites are allowed free entry through. This proposal has two parts: removing the website blocks and the tracking. Students can (and should) be trusted to use their resources academically, with recreational sites being used in their spare time. Along with this, sites like Youtube have educational purposes, and allowing access to emails would create a new method for student communication. Overall, rather than a case-by-case basis, we believe it more effective to unrestrict the entire internet than unblocking specific sites out of possible millions. Discontinuing any addon that can track specific users’ data also would help, as it would encourage students to explore the internet for resources.
2. Allow students to leave the campus during the day: In previous years, students in NHS were able to leave the campus during lunch breaks and other free periods. We want this policy to return on a larger scale. Students on track with their credits should be given the freedom to leave the campus during lunch breaks or free periods, away from the school's responsibility. This creates an incentive to perform well in classes, and can give students a sense of freedom, instead of the feeling of being trapped in a building for 7-8 hours a day.
3. Student representation/communication: None of the overbearing restrictions that have been made in the past few years have been done with student input. The school isn’t a private entity, and is in fact funded with our tax dollars. We believe that since we pay for the school in its entirety, we should also have a role in deciding how that money is spent, whether it be better lunches, iPads, or better computers.
4. Peer to peer communication: Previously, students have used Schoology to communicate with their peers. However, this was shut down recently by tyrannical teachers. We request the creation of a publicly available method of communication for school matters, such as a public forum.
5. Discontinue the confiscation of legal items: This should really go without saying, but confiscating a phone in 2019 is like severing an extended part of a person temporarily. It allows them to communicate and access information on a global scale. Overall, we believe that if a student decides to impede their own learning, that should be their problem, not the teachers’.

The goal of these propositions is to allow students the freedom representative of regular society. Similar to a government, the school system should work for the students, rather than the students acting in the will of the school. It is with that note that we ask McCaskey to think through the issues pointed out in this petition, and consider the options suggested in order to prevent these missteps from occurring in the future.