A new student has just enrolled this year at Orono High School. Creating very popular discussions, he has received many comments from students and staff. Several teachers say he is distracting the students. David Benson, principal at Orono High School, said “if teachers are paying attention [to him] it won’t be a problem.” Benson also commented saying “people seem to be responding well” to him.

Who is this new student of Orono High School? Well, his name is Facebook.

The discussion of allowing access to Facebook on school grounds began last year in the guidance office. The guidance counselors, Katie Dorn, Jill Sabol, and Shana Borgen had long debates about the benefits and disadvantages of having facebook at Orono. It was concluded that it would just be a better way to connect with students. Benson agreed saying “Communication is everything. [Facebook] is a reality and I’m not going to fight it.”

Teachers and students agree that this new form of communication will be beneficial. Stephanie Hillman, band teacher and supervisor of Tri-M at OHS, complimented the change and said “It allows for more flexibility and efficiency; it is nice to put information out there without calling a big meeting.” Orono freshman Charli Jubert also only had good things to say and commented “Our grade has a Facebook page, the whole grade gets to see it, so we stay connected.”

Others dislike Facebook’s involvement at the school. Spanish teacher Robbie Smalling said “Facebook can be a great tool, but I think the district could connect with students in better ways besides the social network. There are a lot of non-academic purposes facebook can be used for.” English teacher Jarred Lundquist is “worried it will add to the distraction since it is already hard for students to focus; [Facebook] isn’t very conducive to learning.”

However, teachers do agree that it will enhance responsibility. Lundquist stated “We can’t have a world outside that is completely different from here. Students need to learn how to use these things from the outside world appropriately in school. Why not deal with it more constructively?” “Teaching [the students] to use it for the right reasons” is important to Hilman as well.

“The work place and college settings communicate freely. It’s expected that school should reflect the larger reality in a technological sense,” said Benson.

Students love the new freedom. “I think students will use it responsibly because we want to keep it”, Jubert said. Junior Luke Rehbein added that “it’s nice that [the teachers and staff] realize they can trust us.”

Senior and Student Body President Joey Bacon has been using Facebook efficiently for many academic purposes. He has ‘pages’ for a lot of his different classes. Bacon said it has been “really helpful especially when there is a huge event for class. Everyone is on [Facebook] at that time and it’s the easiest place to get the answer you need.”

Though Facebook is a social network, it is not connecting students and teachers in any inappropriate, personal form. Bacon said “there is no invasion of privacy but it’s a really good way to access kids.” Hillman agreed, “It’s nice because you don’t have to be ‘friends’ with your students.”

Senior Madi Hyde said it is “keeping us updated.”

According to Benson, “Everything is changing rapidly and we need to support it and provide for it the best we can.”