Practice School Board Article

            Students with disciplinary problems in the Portsmouth School District may soon lose their ability to sleep in on Saturday mornings if the Portsmouth School Board approves a new policy requiring them to come to school for special weekend sessions. 
            After discussing the proposal to implement Saturday morning disciplinary sessions at Monday night’s Planning Board Meeting, the board decided to table voting on the issue until its next meeting on March 7. 
            “I know this isn’t good news for parents,” said School Board Member Tim Steele after making a motion to approve the new policy, “but I hope the threat of Saturday classes will make the students think twice before breaking the school rules.”
            Steele proposed the measure because it will help to reduce the number of in-house suspensions given to students who are caught smoking on the grounds of Portsmouth High School.
            In-house suspensions require a faculty member to supervise students in an empty classroom, and students miss class work during this time.  Steele told the board he believes this new policy would be positive for students because they wouldn’t miss class. 
            The Saturday morning session would run from 8 a.m. until noon several weekends during the school year, and, according to Steele, $3,000 per year would need to be allocated toward the program for staffing. 
            Peggy Bacon, a parent who attended the meeting, said during the discussion of the proposal that she did not like the idea. 
            “I work six days a week, including Saturday morning,” Bacon said, “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?”
            Bacon also complained about the increase in taxes this new program would create. 
            “The parents are going to pay for it in higher taxes as well as in ruined Saturdays,” Bacon said. 
            Lisa Gallagher, a senior at PHS who also attended the meeting, did not approve of the proposal either, even though in her long career as a student she had never attended an in-house suspension.
            “I think [this proposal is] just being done to make life easier for the faculty, so they don’t have to deal with detentions during the week,” she said.  “Anyway, what if someone skips the session?  What are they going to do, make them stay all weekend?”
            Steele responded that students who skip the Saturday sessions would not be allowed to return to school until the session was made up.
            Despite the concerns of some community members, Resident Bob Farley agreed with Steele’s reasoning. 
            “Parents can whine all they want about this,” Farley said, “but maybe it’s time parents in America were made to take a little responsibility for their kids.”