Everyone deals with bullying at some point in their life, as well as being disrespected by students. This school year, there have been multiple accounts of students being rude toward one another, as well as staff at the school. “I think there are groups that are more mature. I’m not sure if it’s better or worse each year, I think COVID played a role in that. Being in and out of school kind of pushed back the social maturity for some people,” said Mr. Stippich.

It’s not just teachers who deal with the disrespect and backtalk from students, it’s gotten more concerning for students as well. “I’ve reported incidents numerous times and nothing has really changed about behavior, and no action seems to have been taken to force improvements,” junior Camden Stogsdill said.

A few weeks ago, there was a post that had circled the highschool of a fellow student telling kids to commit suicide, and while it’s unsure that it was dealt with, that behavior at Lebanon should not be permitted. “They’re saying things that hurt people more than the petty things they used to say in middle school, it’s definitely affecting kids more nowadays,” junior Grace Plumhoff said.

Teachers have always dealt with students’ behavior in classrooms, but it seems that it’s suddenly becoming worse and worse. “When students talk back to me or refuse to do what I ask, it’s icing on the cake. I’ll normally talk to them in the halls, but if it becomes too much, I’ll just write a referral,” said Mr. Stippich.

Students have slowly started to deal with more bickering between one another as well. That’s always going to happen in school; whether it be elementary, middle school, or high school. Grace Plumhoff said, “it’s gotten to the point where if I’m being disrespected, I do it back. I make sure not to get into any fights and I do my best to stay out of trouble and brush it off; it’s just too much sometimes.”

We all know it’s a problem throughout the schools, but just how big of a problem is it? “I do think it’s a big problem, but I think it stems from other factors. Like authority-wise and discipline. Why would’t you be disrespectful when you’re being disrespected yourself? It just goes in a loop that’s nonstop,” said Grace Plumhoff.

“I think it depends. It’s not a huge problem, but some students do make it difficult to teach and for other kids to learn when they disrupt the class and become disrespectful towards me or fellow classmates,” Mr. Stippich said.