Alison Ritrosky
Lazy Saturday mornings filled with cartoons, feet pajamas, and comfy blankets may come to a screeching halt, if you’re a troublemaker at Portsmouth High School.
A new rule may be put into effect where students who misbehave during the school week will return to school for a Saturday morning session from 8 a.m. until noon.
School Board member Tim Steele proposed the idea in order to reduce the number of in house suspensions. With this new program, the student would miss no class time and instead make up the work on his/her own time, a time that is valued most – the weekend.
“I know this isn’t good news for parents,” said Steele. “But I hope the threat of Saturday classes will make the student think twice before breaking the school rules.” Steele said that if a student skips a Saturday session, he/she will not be able to return to school until the time has been served.
Some parents, like Peggy Bacon, completely disagreed with the proposal. She said her Saturdays will be ruined if this plan is put into effect.
“Why do we need a change? I know my son isn’t perfect,” Bacon said. “I know he’ll end up on the Saturday list at some point, but I’m not going to force him to go.” Bacon does not think the detentions will have any effect on the students’ behavior, anyway.
Students are even more angered than the parents. Lisa Gallagher, a senior and one of five high school students that attended the meeting, said she never has had a detention in her life and never intends to. Her thoughts are with the faculty.
“I think [the plan] is just being done to make life easier for the faculty, so they don’t have to deal with detentions during the week,” Gallagher said.
But some parents find justice in the system. Bob Farley, a resident, thinks that the problem lies within the parents.
“Parents can whine all they want about this,” he said. “But maybe it’s time parents in America were made to take a little responsibility for their kids.” The problem, he said, is that there is a lack of teaching discipline in the home.
Regardless, the students are responsible for their own behavior. And Saturday morning detentions may be the consequence for these behaviors in the near future. The issue will be discussed again on March 7.
No comments:
Post a Comment