EHS is shifting from after school detentions to lunch detentions.

Proposed protocol:

• Students receiving a lunch detention must be submitted to the list by 9:30 that day; otherwise, they serve it the next day.
• Community Service students have to be back by third lunch.
• Tech students would have to leave first lunch 5 minutes early to catch the bus.
• The cafeteria provides a sack lunch each day with no choice for the student. The count needs to be sent to the cafeteria by 9:30 am.
• Each day is manned by administration.
• When students are assigned a detention, the form must include whether or not that student needs lunch.
• Guidance will send one person to the cafeteria each day.
• If a student is absent on the detention day, they must serve the next day.
• Teachers assign detentions for the next day and MUST have the form to the office by the end of the day they assigned them.
• No second chance option. If the student misses; they get two detentions or a Saturday detention.
• Room 727B
• Hall monitors will bring the lunches for all three shifts in a cooler at 11:00 am.

“I think they will be more effective than the after-school detention,” Mr. Lance Hertlein, science teacher, said. “Kids are going to miss out on that social time. That’s going to have an impact on them to get their work done and be more responsible.”

The general standards are still in play when detentions are being assigned.

“Typical detentions come from tardiness, truancy, skipping class, misbehavior or insubordination of not turning in assignments,” Mr. Dan Thoman, assistant principal, said. “Although a teacher and administrator can assign a detention whenever they see fit.”

Students will serve detentions during their lunch shift of the following day. 

“I like my sandwiches that I normally get at lunch, so if I don’t get that sandwich I am going to be pretty cranky the rest of the day,” Brett Thomas (11) said. “But it is convenient since you don’t have to miss a practice by staying after school, which is nice.”

If students are tardy, they will automatically be assigned another detention for the next day. Although, if they have an excused absence the detention will simply carry over.

They will report directly to room 727B, where they will be given a sack lunch, charged to their account, if they chose to not bring their own, according to Mrs. Jennifer Strauser, associate principal.

Instead of having to plan and coordinate a time that works well with both the student and teacher schedules, the student will immediately report to their lunch detention on the given day.

“I think one of the issues with after school detentions was that it was difficult to get consistency with the students to schedule time between after school activities, work and other commitments,” Mr. George Calhoun, assistant principal, said. “There were many factors that would come to play when it came to being unable to attend after school detentions, so serving it at lunch will alleviate all those issues.”  

The administration is hoping that having detentions during lunch will deter students from getting in trouble.

“It’s a great idea,”  Mr. Charles Crouther, interim head principal, said. “The administrators are involved to assist the students. There will be educators there that can help students with anything academic. I think it is a very good idea all around.”

The stakes have changed. The faculty has the power to make lunch a much lonelier and quieter time.