17 Oct Class exercise

Saturday Disciplinary Sessions at School Stirs Debate in Monday's School Board Meeting

No more sleeping in on Saturday mornings for misbehaving schoolchildren in Portsmouth - and their parents.

This will be the case if Tim Steele of the School Board of Portsmouth gets his way.

The Boards' proposal was to discipline misbehaving children during a Saturday morning session from 8.00 a.m. to 12 p.m., instead of punishing them during weekdays. This measure, intended to lower the amount of people breaking school rules, will cost the community $3,000 per year for staffing.

This measure is intended to lower the amount of class time children miss when serving ' in-house suspension' , which means that they are punished during a weekday by having to sit in an empty classroom all day under close supervision of a faculty member.

Last year,  154 students missed at least one day of class each because of their punishment, which they are not allowed to make up for during this time. In-house detention is automatically given to students who are caught smoking in- or outside of Portsmouth High School.

The proposal was met with fierce opposition, such as the reaction of Peggy Bacon, a parent of a Portsmouth High School student: "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 ruined Saturdays". Moreover, because Bacon works six days a week, getting her son from home to school is quite an effort, that she does not want to make on Saturday morning.

Also, Lisa Gallagher, one of the students of Portsmouth High School that attended the meeting, is against the proposal. "I don't like this idea. I think it's just being done to make life easier for the faculty." Moreover Gallagher, who has never been in detention herself, wonders about what is done about students that are just not showing up for their Saturday session.

Steele explained that when a student skips a Saturday session, he or she will not be allowed in class until their detention has been served.

Resident Bob Farley of 64 Elm St. likes the idea of Satuday school. It's time that parents in America were made to take a little responsibility for their kids." He argues that parents "are not teaching their kids any discipline". Farley is of the opinion that children will wisen up if they have to miss "a few Saturday morning cartoons".

After this discussion, the board voted 5-3 to table the issue until its next meeting on March 7, during which Steele will present figures on in-school detention so far this year.