While students at RMHS may sometimes be tempted to use the school’s elevators, school administration has enacted an elevator use policy in order to maintain the safety and effectiveness of them.
When walking around the RMHS building, students will come across two elevators at different locations. The entrances for the elevators can be seen with one outside the guidance office, one near the performing arts center entrance, one near the lunch room, one right outside the library, and one on the fourth floor right above the library. The elevators appear to be in good working order/condition with no vandalism.
The elevator use policy at RMHS is simple: only students who have an approved pass from the nurse for the time that they have an injury are allowed to be on it, nobody else. Elevators are an extremely useful thing for students and faculty who are injured and need an alternative way to get around the building without being trampled by hundreds of students. Also, they’re legally necessary by a Massachusetts law. The 521 Mass. Reg. 28.1, states, “In all multi-story buildings and facilities, each level including mezzanines ,shall be served by a passenger elevator. ” Although the elevators are legally needed for the school, that does not give everyone the right to use them.
Assistant Principal Buckley can be seen throughout the day walking around the building, making sure students are where they are supposed to be and following the rules. She gave her view on why the elevator policy is necessary. She discussed, “The reason for that is because if there are lots of students in the elevators, then students who actually need the elevators need to wait longer and longer to get on the elevator and use the elevator effectively.” She then added, “So it slows down the whole process causing some students who actually need the elevator to be late to class.”
However, some people will disobey the policy. In these cases, the administration uses their judgment to move forward with appropriate actions. Ms. Buckley voiced, “We also do not want to give consequences for no reason. So we try to have conversations to help students understand the reason for the elevator restrictions. If that doesn’t work, then we have issued detentions before.”
Ms. Buckley and the administration show their trust for the students by having conversations instead of going straight into punishment. This is to give them the benefit of the doubt in case they weren’t aware of the policy and hope that they, moving forward, follow the policy and keep the elevators clear.
The elevator use policy continues to be important for the injured students to have an easy passage to classes without interference. Administration works to monitor this and keep the elevators effective.
