In case you are not aware, one of the most intense — and comical — debates going on in the teacher’s workroom, copy room, classrooms and even social media is all about the simple office tool known as the stapler.

At Danbury High School, the battle between teachers and students, and teachers and teachers, on whether students should be allowed to use the classroom stapler wages on, leaving many of us in the student body wondering just what is the big deal?

The issue apparently surfaced late last year, when a few of the staff were reported going at each other at a professional development over the fact that some teachers hide their staplers from students to ensure that they have their assignments stapled and ready to hand in before they step into the classroom.

Teachers who have this policy argue it’s in place so that precious instructional time (what, it burns maybe five minutes of not turning and talking?) is not wasted while students line up for the stapler, and that it gets students ready for the rules of college and business. We hear a certain department head makes his newly hired adopt this policy.

Other teachers, however, argue the district, with taxpayer money, provides staplers and staples, therefore students should be allowed to use them, and for Pete’s sake, aren’t there bigger issues to worry about, like making sure the students can recite the objective?

English teacher Deb Stence is among the latter, and has been one of the most vocal standing up for students’ rights to have access to the prized staplers. She said it all came to a head when she learned some teachers were deducting points from assignments if the papers were not stapled before the bell.

The debate boiled over to Facebook.

“I started laughing at the issue and [my students] would say, ‘But we don’t just lose points, the stapler gets put away because if we don’t come in with the work stapled, we are not allowed the stapler.’ ”

Stence, known for standing up for the underdog, whether teacher or student, added, “It has brought laughter from some, and defense from some, and offense from some. In the way I see it, the staplers belong to the kids, not to the teachers.”

All teachers have their own policies when it comes to supplies; some teachers require students to buy a mini stapler, and others provide them from their own pockets.

An underlying issue that seems to upset many students and some teachers is that students are losing points on papers (we hear anywhere from two to five points) if the paper has not been stapled.  As if not properly citing your sources wasn’t enough to get points taken off.

“I’ve had teachers in the past make it absolutely necessary that it is stapled before class, and they have valid reasons why it should be,” said a female student who is a junior and asked not to be identified for fear of being labeled a stapler trouble-maker. “But my grades have been severely hurt because points were taken off when I didn’t have time to staple my paper.”

Many students (even in Journalism class, the argument balloons) spoken with argue it’s not fair when they have worked hard on a paper only to lose points for something that does not affect the paper’s content, and that using paperclips to hold together their assignments isn’t good enough.

English teacher Danielle Costello is one of many teachers who deduct points from assignments unstapled. She says it’s a matter of teaching the students to listen, follow directions, and be held accountable because a college professor, a military instructor, or a boss won’t accept anything less.

“Students at this point should be used to being held accountable; it’s a routine, a classroom expectation,” Costello said. “I tell my students if they don’t have a stapler at home, I will provide one for them. I can’t expect them to be successful if they don’t have the tools to help them.”

However, the main providers of school supplies for the students are the parents who pay taxes for the school to afford the supplies.

“Teachers need to remember that parents are taxpayers that create the school budgets and the school budget allows staplers to be put in the hands of teachers in the rooms where those parents’ children go to school,” said Stence. “So the staplers were bought by their parents for the students.”

Students of DHS, although this issue may be frustrating, there’s really nothing we can do about it. Each teacher has their own values that must be respected. You must decide whether it’s worth losing points over.