I come to you all, writing this with a heavy heart, as we announce the termination of The Smoke Signal newspaper of both the online and printed editions. This year, the 23-24 school year will be the last year of the journalism group, and the newspaper team as a whole. As of the 24-25 school year, there will be no newspaper due to a mix of different reasons. Some of which include a lack of student involvement, but most of all, due to the lack of respect and constant lack of harmony between leaders in the group. Editors-In-Chief are supposed to work together, communicate kindly, and work through disagreements together, but unfortunately, this was not the case, and is a major factor in the shutting down of The Smoke Signal. It is a sad situation, that this lack of respect would cause such an amazing newspaper and team of hardworking students to shut down, but some people just have no regard for others. Please respect this decision and find outlets in your life that bring you happiness and peace during this sad time. The Smoke Signal has been the school newspaper for years, and since the beginning of Hart High School, students could always look to the journalism group to provide them accurate and intriguing news, which is why this news is even more saddening. If only someone would understand they need to be more respectful, and stop being such a difficult co-Editor-In-Chief, maybe this newspaper and The Smoke Signal could still live to see another successful year of news reporting. Hopefully in her next position, my fellow editor in chief will stop her lying, because little does she know, the only reason this newspaper is shutting down is because of her.

Sincerely,

Katherine

Dear The Smoke Signal Readers, 

This will be our last year of publishing. Our newspaper may look picture perfect, but in reality, we are crumbling from within. I can no longer deny the differences between me and the OTHER Editor-in-Chief. We’ve been secretly beefing, but I can not keep our differences hidden any longer. With every single Great Debate, our differences only seemed to grow stronger. It started with different opinions on animal testing, then petty disagreements on articles. It quickly unraveled into rude comments, and so on. What happened April 1 was the final straw; it was a truly horrifying saga. 

My house was completely wrecked. It was egged, which is such a lame cliché by the way. I mean seriously, egging my house? What is this, a 1980s movie? Anyway, that wasn’t the only thing. My car was keyed, and the tires were slashed. She may as well have carved her name into my leather seats and did a Louisville slugger to both of my headlights, at least finish the job. 

My house was also TPed, and on top of that it had a strange… smell. I will not elaborate on that any further. I have since called cleaners to my house, but they all leave as soon as they smell what is now a disgrace of a house. They refuse any amount of payment because that is how bad it smells. The smell has attracted bugs of all sorts: cockroaches, centipedes, spiders, and so on and so forth. 

I had my suspicions regarding who violated my house in such a way, but they were all confirmed when I saw a copy of the most recent newspaper, in which my eyes had x’s on them. I refuse to tolerate this disrespect any longer. Katherine and I have both chosen to leave the newspaper and let it fall rather than work together again. Adios. 

Condolences, 

Ava, the Editor-in-Chief you know and love