There have been a couple of changes for the second semester that leave students with mixed feelings. Two new policy changes have come into effect for detentions and HUBS.
During first semester, all freshmen were required to attend HUBS, whether they had a bad grade or not.
“We put all freshmen in HUBS because we didn’t want them getting caught behind [in their classes],” Athletic Director Gary Howard said. “We thought it would let them get some help and develop study habits.”
Now freshman have the choice to stay in their seventh hour class or go to the Commons.
“This gives them an opportunity to get some work done or to just hang out with their friends,” Howard said. “They have more flexibility in the Commons.”
Some freshmen are still upset they have to stay after school, whether in the Commons or not.
“It’s only good if you have homework,” freshman Andrew Winburn said. “If you don’t have homework, then you’re distracting the people with homework, and you’re taking up space being loud. No one is ever quiet when they don’t have homework.”
Freshman Sarah Niebergall has a tough time getting to the Commons on time.
“You should have a longer time to get all of your stuff,” Niebergall said. “They start yelling at you if you take too long. If you don’t have anything to do then you should be able to walk around.”
Freshmen are not the only ones affected by new policy changes. There is now a new detention policy that is a lot stricter than what it was during first semester.
“We have what’s called a Progressive Discipline Program,” Howard said. “At the beginning of the year, we didn’t have enough staff to do supervision and control detentions, but now we do, which will make this process a lot more efficient.”
When a student is either absent or tardy, they will receive a one hour detention. If the same thing happens again, they will receive a two hour detention.
“It doubles on itself as it continues,” Howard said. “If it keeps going then the student will get an ISS.”
Howard believes the size of the school dictates how the detention policies work.
“Other schools have more supervision because of teachers and staff,” he said. “If all of our staff was busy monitoring the halls and keeping track of the kids, we wouldn’t get any work done, but now we have the number of people to accomplish both.”
