Campus monitors, one of Pahrump Valley High School‘s most controversial staff. Students either love and respect them or absolutely can’t stand them. But what about the struggles that they face on a daily basis from certain types of students? And what are our students’ honest opinions of them?

From the job finder website ZipRecruiter “A campus monitor watches over students while they are on school property. As a campus monitor, your duties include supervising students before and after school, as well as during lunch and breaks. You must also provide general student assistance, inspect the property for safety issues, and report bad behavior to school administrators.” When asking student, Levi Villegas, a senior, on does he think the campus monitors do their job like the description Villegas had to say “Yes, I do think they do their job the correct way, I think actually they go beyond and really try to build a bond with the students here.” 

While most students agree with this there are others who have more to say on this. The student who was interviewed asked to be kept anonymous and stated, “ I think they take their job too seriously. My group and I get in trouble for hanging out in the halls, like, it’s not even a big issue, it’s annoying.” Of course, there are other types of students who just don’t really mind. Elena Margeotes, a senior, says “The people watching the hallways and campus just do their jobs, I mean, they don’t bother me so…” As Villegas stated before how the monitors “go beyond and really try to build a bond with the students here”, Jackson Leighton, senior, had to say “I wouldn’t say I’ve formed a bond with them, just small talk like anyone else… but they are super friendly and seem like they genuinely care.”

While walking strolling down the school hallway, a group of students who were just hanging out and talking was asked if they believed what they were doing is wrong, one stated “ No, we’re just gossiping and giggling, we barely have time to talk during lunch either.” The group was also asked if they were told to go back to their classrooms, would they listen? The group collectively agreed that they would go because they respect the monitors but would eventually come back later. “We’re not really bothering anyone, but we respect Devin and Ms.Gina, but we’ll just come back.” The students were again asked if they believed that the campus monitors were respected, “We do respect them…but the freshmen definitely do not, they’re so disrespectful and rude.” Gina Deangelis and Devin Peterson (two of our campus monitors) were asked if they feel respected, Deangelis replied “I feel that we have created a good rapport with most children we come in contact with to where they feel that we’re pretty fair, we’re able to reprimand them and also give them constructive criticism. I feel most of them take that.” The pair were also asked if they feel there are certain grade levels that lack respect, Peterson feels that “The lack of respect of authority is getting ramped at all ages at this point and we see it a lot in the younger generation getting to be worse… having anyone tell you what to do as an authority figure, it seems to be declining the further that we get in these classes. People do not like to be told what to do. That’s kinda why we take the position we do to command respect first, respect is a funny thing. If they respect us, they want it unless we respect them first.”

When the pair was once more questioned about a typical issue they see at the school, they mentioned teen vaping. Only 10% of Vape users are caught every day at Pahrump Valley High School. According to Peterson, “We find students vaping every day. When they do, they sit them down and talk to them about the consequences of vaping and why they shouldn’t be doing it at all, or at least as a minor.” “It’s harder to catch students vaping nowadays, Deangelis retorted. “In our days of high school, we had cigarettes, and that was pretty easy to catch due to the smoke. Now all these Vape pens are scented like cookies or a certain food and even perfume. Weed is easy to catch from the smell, but what is hard is when students are in groups and we can’t identify which student smoked, so we bring them all to admin.”

  Peterson felt that there should be more options than just school suspensions when discussing the process of being reported to the administration for vaping. ” These students receive suspensions and treat like a vacation. I believe that suspensions should come with community service requirements so that students may genuinely experience the effects of their actions. I know that they occasionally write an essay outlining the negative aspects of vaping, but I think there should be more. Deangelis also agreed with this.  According to the Food and Drug Administration, “11.3% (3.08 million) of middle and high school students reported current use (past 30 days) of any tobacco product.” With this in mind, this is why Peterson and Deangelis are usually by the bathrooms. “We don’t like playing babysitter, especially near the bathroom.” To this, Deangelis has one thing left to say “Please, please be good children, make smart choices, and become outstanding adults.”

As the school year comes close to an end many new ones begin, please do your best to be an outstanding student and not cause trouble in our school hallways and be very respectful to our campus monitors. As vaping comes to rise as well as weed and other drugs, remember your D.A.R.E pledge and make our school a better place. The change starts with you.