Idea of Saturday School stirs up opinions

The threat of Saturday School for kids that break the rules was discussed by the Portsmouth School Board last night. Tim Steele, a member of the board, presented this controversial idea.
Saturday School would require students that break the rules during the week to attend a mandatory session from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.

Although this new program would result in a $3,000 allocation for staffing, Steele argued that Saturday School would benefit faculty members. Not only would it alleviate disciplinary measures during the school week, but it would hopefully decrease the need for such measures as well.

“I know this isn’t good news for parents, but I hope the threat of Saturday classes will make the students think twice before breaking the school rules,” said Steele.

In addition to affecting the school faculty, if approved, Saturday classes will greatly affect parents and students as well. Peggy Bacon, one parent at the meeting, disagreed with the proposal, arguing that it would place unnecessary time constraints on parents that already have trouble getting their kids to school as it is.

“I know my son isn’t perfect, and I know he’ll probably wind up on the Saturday list at some point, but I’m not going to force him to go. I just don’t think it’s going to make any difference,” said Bacon.

As opposed to the current detention situation, this new proposal allows the students to not miss any class time. For instance, in house suspensions are now given to students who break the rules. In house suspension places a student under the supervision of a faculty member, alleviating them from a full day of schoolwork. However, Saturday school ensures that the student would not be missing class.

Lisa Gallagher, a senior at the high school, insisted that this was a measure to make things easier for the faculty.

“What if someone skips the session? What are they going to do, make them stay all weekend?” she asked.

Steele explained that any student who skipped a Saturday session would be banned from school until the detention was made up.

After about 30 minutes of discussion, the board voted 5-3, postponing the decision until next week. Steele will then present in-school detention figures from this year. With so many sides to the issue, it will be interesting to see how the concept of Saturday school plays out.