Opinions

Location, location, location—the key to a successful year at Stuy.

Principal Stanley Teitel’s Trident, proposed in spring 2007, introduced a new scanner system, required faculty to wear identification and upturned the school’s existing locker-swapping culture.

In past years, students would be assigned lockers within the building, then use their own locks to secure them. Many students abandoned their assigned lockers and swiped the most convenient ones, hoping not to get their lock clipped. Lockers, at the senior bar especially, were even purchased.

According to the administration, there were too many locker break-ins with this arrangement. Instead, beginning in fall 2007, the school purchased and placed locks on every locker in the building, whether or not it was occupied.

The administration tested an online selection process with the juniors, class of 2009, along with this plan. Students requested the locker of their dreams during the summer. Each locker assignment was hard-and-fast—no swapping allowed. Since the system ran smoothly, the privilege was expanded to both juniors and sophomores this year. While the student body originally voiced much discontent regarding the new policy, it has turned out to be quite successful. There have been fewer break-ins with the heavier-duty, four-combination locks and less locker-related chaos overall.

Unfortunately, some students cannot afford to purchase a new lock for 11—and now 12—dollars every year. With each lock priced at $10.88, replacing the locks yearly costs over 30,000 dollars. To help alleviate this monetary burden, the school could lower costs by recycling locks and moving them to different lockers. The administration, after all, has the combination for every lock in the school and each lock does have its own serial number. “It would be a monumental task,” Teitel said. But it would save a monumental amount of money.

Financial concerns aside, two groups were left out of the selection process: incoming students and, surprisingly, the seniors. There is, the administration believes, too much competition for too few senior lockers to make online selection fair. It’s true that many seniors want a senior bar locker, but there are favorite locations for the other grades as well. Juniors prize lockers by the third floor escalators and sophomores want lockers by the sixth floor bar.

But leaving the seniors out hasn’t stopped them from scrambling for prime locations. They’ve moved online, forming Facebook groups to buy and trade unwanted lockers. If they’re already swapping on Facebook, the administration should allow seniors to choose for themselves on a first-come, first-serve basis.

In the future, it would also be helpful to have a map of the lockers online. Instead of a blind shot in the dark, students should be able to know what their newly chosen locker numbers mean.

It’s a tough market out there, but hopefully you don’t end up with the bottom locker at the end of the hallway.