“Did you hear about the lockers on the balcony?” The rumors were circulating around the senior class. To some, it seemed that Officer Loveland had asked that seniors with the highest grade point averages have the lockers on the right side of the balcony, the ‘high traffic’ area, to keep it more orderly.

I was frustrated and rather insulted when I first heard of this. It wasn’t because of a petty yearning for a balcony spot, but the fact that I was given a personality trait based on my GPA. If Loveland had indeed asked for this arrangement, he was reinforcing stereotypes of students with high GPA’s.

The stereotypical 4.0 student is a quiet bookworm who spends all of their time studying. They don’t do drugs, drink, or go to parties; they live for school. Being an observant peer and listening to my fair share of gossip, I know that academically successful students aren’t always like this. However, there is some truth to the 4.0 stereotype: these kids work hard. To have those grades you have to work hard, keep up, and be organized.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are the students who don’t make the grade. You can again stereotype these students and say that they’re lazy, unruly delinquents, but as with all stereotypes, this doesn’t fit everyone. Some students might have below ideal grades due to learning disabilities or issues at home. These might be the most well behaved kids around, and to call them out as being delinquent based on a four point scale is narrow minded.

Before delving deeper into this story, I needed to figure out whether it was fact or fiction. I wanted to talk to Loveland first, but unfortunately he was on vacation. So, I decided to talk to finance clerk Chi Ly, who oversees the lockers, to see if she knew anything about the situation.

I approached Ly and told her about the article I was writing and proceeded to ask how lockers were assigned. She told me that freshmen are placed on the third floor, and she tries to give balcony spaces to seniors.  Other than that, Ly said, placement is random and not based on alphabet. I asked her if she knew anything about the rumor surrounding Loveland’s request and she replied that it was indeed a rumor.

I, being the curious cat that I am, was not convinced. It didn’t make sense to me that the lockers were not assigned alphabetically, as Ly had said, because I’ve had lockers next to the same people for all four years of high school. I asked if she could provide any explanation for the observed phenomenon, and once again I was told it was random.

I left my interview feeling unsure of the situation. My paranoia took over; was something being hidden from me? I began to see this story as something bigger than I originally thought. If students with high GPA’s were chosen to have those spots, why would it have to be a secret? If this was indeed true, staff must have known that it was bad to be favoring these students.

Unsure of where to go next, I headed to the balcony to think things through. Who better to find there than security staff member Paul Lundin.

I asked Lundin if he knew anything about this locker situation. To my disappointment, he knew nothing. As usual, he was up for a good conversation, so I told him about the story I was doing and how much trouble I was having getting information.

We talked for a while about the possible truth to this. Maybe Loveland just wanted it to be quieter outside his office? Maybe it was a safety hazard to have so many students on that part of the balcony? I told Lundin about my concerns that students with 4.0s were being stereotyped. He agreed with me that not all of these students are law-abiding angels, but he made me admit to myself that generally these kids are the ones who will be quieter and follow the rules. They must be doing something right to get those grades.

Lundin cautioned me about this article. He reminded me that even if I presented someone in one way, what I say could easily be interpreted differently. I understood this concept, but I was confused as to why Lundin was stressing this to me. This was just about grade point averages. Wasn’t it?

The truth is, the majority of those 4.0 students are white. I’m sure no one was thinking about the race of students in relation to lockers, but what ended up happening was a whole bunch of white students with lockers together on the balcony. My intentions were to discover how the locker selections were made and shatter stereotypes of 4.0 students. Unable to attain adequate information from staff members, students will continue to draw their own conclusions which could be false and harmful.

For instance, when I told a friend about the article I was writing, her mind immediately went to the racial changes on the balcony. Even without my reporting on the matter, many South students have already made decisions about the situation.

This is why it is so crucial to find the truth about the locker situation. Because I haven’t had access to information dispelling rumors, the entire school continues without the truth, which will only lead to the further development of their own conclusions.

All I wanted was to speak with Loveland himself and get the truth. Once again I was met with a road block.

The day I was going to speak with Loveland, he was unavailable. When I finally had the opportunity to interview him, Loveland explained to me that he was not legally allowed to be interviewed, even if it was only about the lockers. If I wanted to speak to him I would have to get special permission through the Public Information Office of the Minneapolis Police Department.

I attempted to contact this office and sent them the questions I wanted to ask Officer Loveland, but I never received a response.

At this point I was truly frustrated. I wanted Loveland to be able to have his say in the article. In one final attempt to get an interview, my editor showed him what I had written and asked for a comment. He once again said that he was legally unable to comment, but he clearly wanted to.

Finally, I received a statement from Principal Cecilia Saddler saying that Loveland had not made the request that seniors with 4.0s be given lockers outside his office. After coming this far, I was back to square one.

The locker location rumor doesn’t even seem like the biggest issue anymore. By trying to uncover this story, I came face to face with a truth about our school. Things are kept from us, and finding adequate information is extremely and unnecessarily difficult.

As students, we deserve to know what’s going on in our school. Yes, there is some confidential information about students that we don’t have access to for good reason, but the locker situation should not be confidential.

If students are receiving rewards for high achievements, it should be known. This could act as a motivator for students to excel. Better yet, students themselves could be involved in determining the locker placement system. At the very least we should know why all the 4.0 students were placed in one area.

Every day, we come here and are expected to act like adults. If we are to uphold this expectation, we should be treated as adults and given the opportunity to handle information.

I don’t want to spend 35 hours a week in an institution that keeps secrets from me. If we aren’t trusted, and if information is withheld from us, rumors will continue to circulate and will only result in making the situation worse.