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The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

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ARC pilots traffic calming effort

In an effort to control the amount of noise and “walk-through foot traffic,” students will have to abide by a handful of new guidelines at the Academic Resource Center, according to ARC co-coordinator Noel Beitler.

After discussing the issue with administrators, Librarian Rachel Kellerman and ARC co-coordinator Maria Lim, Beitler decided to lock the door connecting the ARC to the library from morning until lunch. However, the library-side door will remain open in the afternoons for student and staff.

Besides this, Beitler also requires students to remain seated and as quiet as possible.

According to Beitler, these actions directly resulted from her concerns that the ARC was being “abused, not used.”

After chemistry teacher Carolina Sylvestri tried to quiet students down in the ARC and was forced to raise her voice due to the noise in the room, Beitler decided that the teachers’ concerns and her own must be addressed.

“The bottom line is that because we’re a test-taking center and a tutoring center, we need to keep the ARC calm and quiet,” Beitler wrote to The Paly Voice in an email. “To stay useful to our school and true to our mission, we need to remember why we are here in the first place.”

However, some students find the new ARC guidelines troublesome.

One junior, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that while some of the new ARC rules are reasonable, others are not.

“I think the ‘locking doors’ is a pain for students and faculty,” he said. “Not many people use the ARC to get around the place, in my opinion.”

“The ‘be quiet or leave’ rule makes sense, but the ‘sit-down’ thing doesn’t work because [of] the lack of chairs,” he added.

According to Beitler, she was aware at the time she decided to make these new guidelines that some students would complain. To those frustrated with the lack of indoor dining area, Beitler has her own suggestion.

“I think Paly does need more indoor places where students can just relax between classes and eat food and talk,” she wrote. “I suggest that the students who are frustrated and feel turned away from the ARC make a point of asking [the administration] that other places on campus be unlocked and staffed at lunchtime for student use.”

However, she remains optimistic that Paly students will make the ARC more conducive to learning.

“So far I’ve been really happy with how well the students are helping to make the ARC more usable for test-takers and tutoring sessions and people who just want to use our books and study,” Beitler wrote. “I really appreciate everyone’s cooperation.”  

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