New Policy Attacks Extracurriculars

 

Students beware:

  Out of school suspension will result in one week of social probation.  

  According to administration, this new addition means that if a student gets in a

fight, steals, swears, says “no” to an adult, plays hooky, etc., said student can expect a week suspension from school, including all after school activities.

  Once suspended, a student cannot participate in an after school activity

for an entire school week.

  Many students, however, question whether or not the administration will actually enforce the new policy. These students point out that there are numerous policies in the handbook that aren’t exactly executed as written.

  John Dugas, a varsity soccer player for the second year, is one of those students.

  “I think the policy is unfair. Your suspension is your punishment, there shouldn’t be more to deal with when you return.”

   It seems that athletes especially are feeling the heat of this policy, according to

Dugas. “The policy is aimed at athletes, students involved with other activities probably won’t miss as much as an athlete would.”

  This idea of adding new and stricter policies is happening all across the state. At Barrington High school, assistant principal Joe Hurley is cracking down on those students who seem to think they are above the rules.

  “It’s going to be a community effort- teachers, administrators, parents and then

the students… this is really going to be our number one priority,” he said.

  Most of Barrington’s new policies match up with policies at SKHS, except that

some absences that the SKHS handbook considers excusable aren’t such at BHS.

  Also, according to Hurley, at Barrington, administration worked with the athletic

director, George Finn. SKHS athletic director, Mr. Lynch said he was not a part of the talks regarding the new suspension policy.

   Some students seem to think that this policy will be overlooked, as with some of

the other policies at SKHS. They may have just reason, as the attendance policy seems to have many loopholes.

  According to the agenda, if a student is late four times in one semester (two

quarters), “students will be assigned a one-hour office detention for tardies four through seven.”

  “I was late about 48 times over 3 quarters” says senior Matt Vaccaro, a student-

athlete here at SKHS.

  Vaccaro started at center for the boys’ varsity volleyball team last year in the spring, but according to the attendance policy he should have been watching the games from the sidelines.

  When asked about the attendance policy, Vaccaro said “I think it’s easily manipulated, and I love it.” 

  Cheating the system is something Vaccaro practiced multiple times a week last year.

  “I was on time for two Wednesdays I think.”

  In fact, it is because students constantly cheat the system that they created the

new policy, according to SKHS principal Mr. McCarthy. “There were situations last year where a kid would act inappropriately on a Wednesday, would be out of school Thursday [serving suspension], and would have Prom on Friday, and that’s not acceptable,” McCarthy  said.

   “The problem is that the system is uneven. The database is new, and with that

there are no immediate flags,” he said, in regards as to why the attendance policy is

overlooked.

  “I think the attendance policy is a joke” says Dugas. “If administration is going to

lay out the policy, they should enforce it.”

  It seems SKHS just needed a system that works according to the principal.

McCarthy is confident that the system works sufficiently, and like anything else, it has its flaws.