School Board

Students of Portsmouth School will have to TiVo Saturday morning cartoons if School Board member, Tim Steele, is able to institute disciplinary Saturday morning sessions as a substitute for school day detentions.

In the past students were disciplined by in-house suspensions – where students are required to spend a school day under close supervision of a faculty in an empty classroom.  Under this new rule, students will not miss any class time.

Peggy Bacon, voiced her concerns about the new punishment from a parent’s point of view saying that it’s already hard enough getting her son to school five days a week, let alone six. ”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 in ruined Saturdays.”

Tax increases can be expected to compensate for the addition staffing needed to hold the additional Saturday classes.  Steele told the School Board it would require an allocation of about $3,000 per ear for staffing.

However, resident Bob Farley supports the new rules and doesn’t sympathize with the possible inconvenience for parents. “Parents aren’t teaching their kids any discipline, so the kids have no respect for rules. Maybe if they have to miss a few Saturday morning cartoons they’ll start wising up.”

What do the students think about the possibility of Saturday school? Lisa Gallagher, a senior, spoke against the rule at the School Board meeting saying that, “In 12 years of school I’ve never served a detention, and I don’t intend to. I think it’s just being done to make life easier for faculty, so they don’t have to seal with detentions during the week.”

Gallagher also spoke about the possibility of students skipping their Saturday sessions, to which Steele combated that if a student skips Saturday school, he or she would not be allowed to return to school until the detention has been served.

This new rule would be primarily put in place as a punishment for students caught smoking on school grounds. Steel said there are other problems, but smoking is by far the worst.

After discussion, the board voted 5-3, with one member abstaining, to table the issue until its next meeting March 7. Steele was instructed to return with figures on in-school detentions, so far of that year, at that time.

The board also heard several committee reports, including one from the rental committee, which reported that rental of school rooms and buildings was off about 25 percent from last year. They suggested that rental spaces be advertised in the newspaper’s classified advertising section.

Other reports came from the maintenance committee, which reported that graffiti artists had vandalized the back wall of the Middle School; and from the Athletic Committee, which proposed guidelines for fundraising by Booster Clubs.

These reports will be discussed at a future meeting.

Other new business discussed by the School Board involved a retreat for administrators in June; four requests from teachers for leaves of absence in the coming year; a financial report detailing the impact of federal budget cuts on the school lunch program; and approval of several school department and food service bills amounting to $13,568.