Four chargers have been reported stolen from the library. In response, the ability to checkout chargers has been suspended three times this year, including from March 19-20. The library has sent six emails to the student body this school year to address the issue. Chargers being returned late or never being returned at all has been an ongoing issue within the Upper School Library. The privilege to check them out has been suspended two times prior this school year. Now, if a charger is three days overdue, the student will be billed the $60 cost and will lose their charger checkout privileges for the rest of the school year.
Upper School Librarian Jessica Wahl said she has seen an increase in unreturned chargers this year, which became a serious issue the library had to address.
“The charger bags were found all over campus,” Wahl said. “It got worse when students were actually stealing them from our charger cart. That’s where we really had to draw the line, because I can understand that it gets hectic, you forget to return your charger, but the taking [isn’t okay]. You know you’re doing something wrong. It’s disrespectful to us.”
Carla* said she took a charger from the library to charge her laptop and later received disciplinary consequences after camera footage was reviewed.
“I was in the library and my laptop was dying and I needed a computer charger and the librarians weren’t there, so I just took a charger with the intention of giving it back,” Carla said. “A few days later, I was taken into Mr. Church’s office after receiving a super cryptic email from Mr. Plourde. He told me thatthey had found security footage and I needed to [go to] detention.”
Reagan Shibuya ’27 said she was frustrated with those that stole the chargers because the suspension of chargers was inconvenient for her.
“It’s so awful that people are stealing the chargers,” Shibuya said. “They deserve to be punished. It makes my life so much more difficult because my computer is never charged and I can’t go to the library to get a charger anymore.”
Wahl, who has emailed the student body numerous times regarding the issue, said the emails are meant to emphasize the importance of the situation and enforce accountability, even if they come off as strict.
“I jokingly call them the ‘Mean Ms. Wahl Emails,’” Wahl said. “I obviously don’t want to come across as mean, [I just want] to set this precedent to make sure that people know that this is serious. I’m more than happy to be the bad guy in this situation by sending out the emails. So, I apologize if my emails come off as mean, but I also don’t because this point needs to be made.”
Carla said the school’s reaction to the charger issue is an overreaction that stresses the wrong priorities.
“It’s a gross overreaction to the problem that demon- strates how the school doesn’t emphasize the issues that are important to the student body but rather minute issues that distract from the overall experience of being a student at the school,” Carla said. “Obviously people should respect school property, but taking the entire situation out of proportion feels silly with how much money we pay for the school with our tuition. The fact that so many people are taking valuable time out of their day to discuss a $40 charger just sounds super silly.”
