Running a school is like taming a circus.

You have the ringleaders, the lion tamers and the audience. The key to circus success is the relationship between all members of the show and the way they are able to work together.

In the case of LHS however, administrators, who should act as the ringleaders and lead the school in spirit and pride, act instead as more of “lion tamers” as they suppress the spirit of the student body.

“I wish they would have let us have school spirit and carry on the tradition that we expected to find when we got here,” senior Jeff Mekus said.

The relationship between the administration of LHS and its students is a strained one, lacking the crucial communication between the ringleaders of this circus and their lion tamers.

The first obstacle blocking this communication is that students of LHS don’t know their administrators. When The Budget surveyed 25 people and asked them to identify each of the five principals when shown their pictures, 46 percent of the answers were incorrect.

Not knowing the faces enforcing the rules strains the relationship between the student body and their leaders. Students may find it hard to respect and understand policies made by a silent administration.

“It’s hard for us to understand their decisions because they don’t allow us to explain our reasoning,” Mekus said. “They don’t talk to the student body about what we are doing. They just assume we are doing bad stuff. They don’t allow us to have a voice in our own school.”

Some of the administrators might occasionally be found walking the halls or standing near the cafeteria at lunch, but this presence may not be enough. Many of them could learn from Mark Preut. Preut, who serves as assistant principal and activities director for the school, is more likely to be spotted at sporting events, StuCo meetings or school trips.

“I have the opportunity to interact with students on a pretty regular basis with different activities that they want to be involved with,” Preut said.

A more common place to find administrators is in their offices, disciplining. Although they walk around, interactions between students and the administration seem to most often occur regarding disciplinary action.

During the first week of school, one administrator made a comment about hoping to never have to meet most of the students. The administrators were implying that they didn’t want a lot of trouble this year, but it still created an immediate distance.

Even though this was said as a joke, it represents the restricted relationship the administration has with students. They limited it strictly to a disciplinary-only relationship from the beginning.

“I feel like unless you are a superstar or someone who gets into trouble, you get little recognition or acknowledgment from the administration,” senior Brea May said.

Many students are used to coming from a junior high where they often experienced a closer relationship with their administration.

It is understandably harder for principals to bond with 1,500 students as opposed to only 400, but at the same time, the relationship is just as important in high school, if not more important.

Students need to feel as if their administration wants to put effort into having a relationship with them. If students don’t feel like this is desired, they will not work to create one, thus enhancing a disconnect between those in charge and those under the reign.

“I think we kind of know what [the students] want,” Principal Matt Brungardt said. “[But] I don’t know that there is the greatest connection.”

It may seem as though high school students want limited interaction with their advisors, but the reason for this at LHS is because the only interaction that is done is with negative connotations. The relationship should be more than handling behavioral issues, rule enforcement and an occasional face on the sidelines. Our administrators should be seen in multiple lights, as both disciplinarians and as people you can confide in.

Although students see the problem, it is harder for the administration to understand.

“The assistant principals are seen in multiple capacities, when kids get in trouble they have to be the disciplinarian, then they try to do the outreach and sometimes the dynamic of being in the adult role with the teenagers poses barriers,” Brungardt said.

In the passing of a fellow student, freshman Julius Kamwaro Maina, the administrative presence was lacking when most people would have liked, and expected, to see it most.

Maina died in October from brain cancer. However, this tragedy was acknowledged only with silence.

“Each scenario is different. Because of probably the limited number of students that knew him, the length of [time he was here],” Brungardt said. “Sometimes when a student goes out and they pass away in a car wreck or something, that’s more surprising, then it’s a little bit different. We kind of monitored the situation through the crisis team and it seemed like, kind of the way it laid out, a decision was made to not do the all-school announcement.”

Because of this, some students may not have even known about the passing of one of their fellow students.

“It seemed like, because of the timing, we chose not to make an announcement, to do those types of things, we just let the normal communication come out,” Brungardt said.

Julius may have been a freshman and had little chance to make an impression around the school, but to those who knew him, he didn’t go unnoticed.

“He was always happy and in a good mood,” junior Sami Buffalomeat said. “I escorted him to his classes once a week, and he would always make sure to say ‘hi’ to kids as we passed through the halls.”

The fact that the administration did not acknowledge the death of one of their own students during the school day disappointed Buffalomeat.

“I was told by multiple people that there was no administrative presence at the funeral, and if this is true, it shows how little the administration cares,” Buffalomeat said.

Administrators need to be present in our school to keep a healthy relationship and have a fully-functioning school.

“The rich tradition of LHS is fading away due to the administration,” Mekus said.