Trash poses problem at high school

nie Middle/High School. While it hasn’t seemed to be a large problem in the past, it recently has become a big issue at Clatskanie School District. Not only does litter slowly hurt the environment around the school, the school has gotten complaints about students littering off school grounds during lunch and after school.

Many students go off campus to local establishments during lunch and, as a result, leave a trail of litter behind them. Also, those students who remain on campus for lunch eat outside, and some fail to take care of their garbage. This appears to be the main source of the issue.

CMHS Principal Laurie Maughan said, “To help control the littering problem around our school, our district bought new trash cans and told the groundskeepers to keep an eye out for garbage.” It seems as if the problem has been getting better, but there is still a small presence of students littering.

“When students are caught littering, they are expected to pick up the trash on the path they littered on,” Maughan continued. “We should show that we care about the environment and our school. It is also important that we show respect to our community by picking up trash close to the school grounds. We should be trying to stop littering and not encourage it. Hopefully, we can stop this issue in the near future; but, until then, we have to keep reminding people to pick up their garbage and throw it into a garbage can.”

Administrators at Clatskanie Middle/High School recognize that this issue is harmful to the school environment as well as the reputation of the students in the community. Maughan is in her second year at CMHS. She used to live in Montana, but then she moved to Idaho and eventually came to Clatskanie. Her husband got a job at Camp Rilea Armed Forces Training Center in Warrenton. Maughan saw that the Clatskanie School District was hiring a principal. Since she was already moving down here, she applied and got the principal position at CMHS and is proactive in tackling issues such as these.

What can students do to stop the issue of littering? Some ideas include taking extra time to throw the trash away, recycling items in a proper receptacle, and reminding friends to do the same. If you see trash, pick it up and throw it away. If students work together on being active in not littering, not only will it help cleanse the environment, but students can then take pride in their school grounds. Stop, think about it, and try to seriously stop littering.

Angelica Todd, Aaron Jones, and Zachary Swinford are students at Caltskanie Middle/High School. Student submissions are always welcome. Email submissions to kirk@waheagle.com for consideration.