Personal opinion: I think the biggest problem in this school is the amount of substance abuse. It's sad how many kids in this school are under the influence. The worst part is, they don't CARE who hears them talking about it, there is the element of disgust for people who are "snitches". It's absurd. Maybe it's just a High School thing, but it bugs me so much to see these people my age doing, honestly, STUPID things. I don't want to ruin anyone's chance for education, but I think things could stand some cleaning up around here.

Mrs. Abel is too controlling. She wants to control every aspect of our high school lives but she needs to realize we need our freedom.

:D

I agree, though not entirely. If High Schoolers were allowed to run amok, well, chas ensues. However, the length to which we're being controlled is rather absurd. I can't count the number of times she's talked to me about having my arm around my girlfriend at lunch, or hugging her goodbye before I head home. I think she concentrates too much on the wrong areas that need help. Still, I give her credit for trying, I just find fault in the manner in which she carries it out. We're not pre-teens, we're young adults.

It's not just that she treats us like little kids, its the attitude that she treats us with. Body Language says as much as actual talking does, and she treats us like she doesn't like kids all that much. I agree with Connor, but what kid is going to listen to some one who they think doesn't respect them?

Agreed, her mannerisms are at best condescending, at worst downright insulting. In an age where rebellion against authority is stylized, this disapproving-parent approach to High Schoolers is falling on not just deaf, but angry ears. I can say, with a measure of honesty, that I try my best to maintain a mature bearing while at school, and while talking to my teachers. In the few dealings I've had with Mrs. Abel, that respect I usually receive from other teachers is not reciprocated. I can't expect everyone to get along with me, but charisma is an important trait for a leader, and for better or worse, she occupies this role.

Something that i have noticed, that i'm not sure if anyone else has, and i may be way off the mark as it is, but every time that i have heard, or seen Mrs. Abel speak to the teachers it has been condecesending at best. Mabye i haven't seen her a lot, but from my experience, the way that a "superior" treats thier "subordiants" colors the way that others look at them, and i think that might be part of the problem.
This being said, the fact that certain teachers are "missing" this year are at least in part due to her, so we need to give her credit there at the very least.
J

It doesn't exactly suprise me to find that she treats teachers the same way she treats the student body, and I do notice it, not often though. Still, in a job that (I imagine) requires you to interact with students and teachers alike and get them to cooperate, condescension simply won't work. I did notice a few teachers were missing this year, none that I've ever had (but I heard a collective sigh of relief from classmates when news got around) so I guess we do owe Mrs. Abel thanks for that. Still, I'd like to be treated with a bit more respect than I have been.

Another thing that's been bouncing around my head, I think the administration is spread a little thin. We've got them outnumbered by like three hundred to one. Honestly, I think the student body represents a large, untapped source of reliable inside information and assistance to the administration, if they could only harness it. It makes me sick to my stomach to hear the tired old line "snitches get stitches". That line comes from people who usually have something they don't want spread in school. It's silly. Don't do unintelligent, illegal things, and you don't get in trouble for them. But if, for instance, the position of administration aide was available, who would take it? It wouldn't be a popular position, possibly even dangerous. I dunno. But it makes me think.

It's pretty funny that us as students graduate in about 2 and a half months and she treats us as we are freshmens. she does not have the right to treat others that way when we have been here the entire 4 years. Has she? i don't think so. i give her credit for trying to overpower everyone, but she just might not get the fact that some of us don't care for her. And honestly, neither do some of the teachers. its sad to know how bad people talk about her and she still walks down the halls with her head up high like she doesnt know what people say.alot of people loved Zanca a certain amount of seniors wish for him to come back.

Yeah, we're going to be graduating, and I agree that we're not treated as our age, but she hasn't had much time to bond with the student body as a whole. You raise a good point, no, she hasn't been here four years...but is THAT a reason to not like her? True, she hasn't been really popular, but I attribute that more to her mannerisms than her time spent with us. And you have to realize, as much as we may have loved Zanca, and as much as we wish he'd come back...he's not. Abel is here, for better or worse, and we're going to have to learn to live with that. I think, in time, she will be better adjusted to the climate in Tabb.

Well i love that fact that when she came all the rules that we had that weren't put into much effect have extreme consequences now. which i know there are consequences for almost everything if you do something wrong, but getting in a fight and maybe going to juvie. its a little extreme for the other lower student body. if they were 18 years of age i could understand. but they are just beginning to go throught there teenage years, im not justifying it, but i think the consequences mrs. abel has set are a little too extreme.

On the contrary, I think the punishments set are a joke! We've got kids who have been busted for drugs offenses, fighting, and threats who are coming back to school! I mean, honestly, it sends a very poor message to me, as a rule-abiding sudent, that if hypothetically me or my friends were physically assaulted, I can't do anything or else I get suspended. And THEN, the kid who actually starts the fight gets to come back to school a few days later? That's ridiculous. If a kid is seen visibly picking a fight with someone, or hitting them without provocation, expell them. Simple as that. School has enough trouble and drama without the students adding more to the mix. I think the punishment is more dire for being tardy too many times than fighting...and that's just wrong.

i agree on that fact.

i did hear about you make a good point about that.

The rule is anyone around the fight supposedly gets in trouble also. Along with that this year we have rarely had any fights that I know of, so she should concentrate on more pressing issues. Like she feels that students sleeping in class and students gathering at the door are big issues. For one students sleeping in class should not be tolerated, because then the other classmates that are trying to recieve an education get in trouble also. I understand how those students feel though, some people don't realize but a good amount of students have busy lives outside of school, like sports, and jobs and there are stastistics showing teenagers do not recieve enough sleep hours. But tardies, have become a big issue but it needs more attention and more severe consequences.

It's just scary to think about. I've done martial arts for...it'll be eleven years in September. And I'm not allowed to use those arts (which I started learning to protect family and friends) against people who want to harm me, or my friends, or even my girlfriend without fear of massive reprocussions. I'm very lucky that I haven't had anyone try and start a physical confrontation with my in all my high-school years, but it's still a scary thought. School should be a place where you're not in danger of having your fellow school-goers beating you up and not being able to do anything about it without major consequences. No place is truly safe, only safer, I just think that the punishments for people in fights are ridiculous, especially on the defending party.

I think we should concentrate more on technology. If our only problems are tardies and sleepiness, I'd say we're doing pretty darn well! But I think we are focused on the wrong things. I can't even pinpoint the major problems, because all they are is a collection of small problems gone terribly wrong. But there are things that need improving in this school.

But the students should know that she is trying hard to fix the problems and work it out as best as she can. i understand that she is trying to fix the problems and as some students may not be fond of her for there own reasons she is trying her best and she has to have your own reason. even as we don't know what they are because she does not discuss it to the seniors or anyone. we should be understandable.

I agree totally Amber. She IS trying, and she IS getting results, in her own way. Though, I think it'd be interesting to have her on here, and have her explain her point of view to us, not as our principal, but as a person. We may not be fond of us, but she is here, and so are we. Fighting the system gets you nowhere, and I think a lot of the disgruntlement is just mental. There were a lot of rumors about Abel spread around, and people took that to heart and let it fester. Next thing you know we'll be blaming her for the bad weather.

I don't blame her for the feelings students have for her, she has to do her job. if she likes the results that come out or not. yes, that would be very inetersting if she could put her own comment on these situations that we feel are important. but as you would want it not from her as a principal, and more as a normal person. she still would have to discuss her rules and authorities. so her being eye to eye leveled with us discussing these matters may be hard for her to relate to.

I understand it'd be kinda hard to relate to us, her being our boss and all, but I'd still like to hear what her plans are and what she's doing. And you're right, the job has to be done, and so far she's doing it well.

In a way I disagree with some of the new changes implimented this year, but the cold hard facts are that my opinion really doesn't matter because ultimately she makes the rules.

And there is the clincher. We don't have a say in what the final descision is in the school. That's exactly the problem that bothers a lot of students here I think. With Zanca, you could (so I've heard, not done) go to him with a problem and talk it out with him, and you'd get a result, whether negative or positive. With Abel it seems that same process doesn't exist. How could we persuade Mrs. Abel to listen to our opinons then?