School board proposal

Controversial School Board Proposal Angers Parents and Students Alike

A motion to approve a new policy requiring students with disciplinary problems to attend a special Saturday morning session, has stirred up quite a controversy between members of the School Board and of the community.

After roughly 30 minutes of heated discussion, the board voted to table the issue until its next meeting on March 7, 2011.

The motion was proposed by School Board member Tim Steele, who explained that this disciplinary move was aimed at reducing the amount of in-house suspensions.  “I know this isn’t good news for parents, but I hope the threat of Saturday classes will make the students think twice before breaking the school rules.”

In 2010, 154 students received in-house suspensions. During in-house suspensions students miss a full day of class work that they cannot make up.  With this new program students would not miss any class time.

Peggy Bacon, a parent, was infuriated at the idea of an additional day of detention. “I work six days a week – including Saturday morning – and it’s bad enough to get my son off to school Monday through Friday.  Why should I have to worry about Saturday as well?”

The Saturday session would last from 8 a.m. to noon and would require an allocation of about $3,000 per year in staffing, another aspect that angered Bacon. “I just don’t think it’s going to make any difference, and the parents are going to pay for it – in higher taxes as well as in ruined Saturdays.”

Some residents did like the new proposed rules. “Parents can whine all they want about this, but maybe it’s time parents in America were made to take a little responsibility for their kids.” Said Bob Farley, a Portsmouth resident, “Maybe if they have to miss a few Saturday morning cartoons they’ll start wising up.”

Lisa Gallagher, a senior and one of five high school students at the meeting disliked the rule. “I don’t like this idea.  I think it’s just being done to make life easier for the faculty, so they don’t have to deal with detentions during the week.”

Gallagher also wondered what would happen if students misses a session. “What are they going to do, make them stay all weekend?”

To this Steele responded. “If a student skips Saturday School, he or she would not be allowed to return to school until the detention has been served.”

Steele hopes that the new policy will help prevent students from smoking on campus.  “I just want to keep students from smoking in the high school bathrooms.  There are other problems, but smoking is by far the biggest one.”  At present time in-house suspensions are given automatically to any students caught smoking inside or outside of the high school.