Last year, an Upper School (US) junior, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid being publicly associated with a disciplinary incident, was hanging out with friends in the Commons. They pulled a chair out from one of them as a joke, prompting laughter from the group. US Dean of Teaching and Learning Michael Chapman walked by at that moment and gave the student a detention. The student scheduled it during one of their free blocks, and they spent their detention organizing and filling printer paper before being let go early.
This year, the detention policy is being modified. Students must stay after school on either Tuesday or Thursday for 45 minutes. This rule change was made partly because a more severe punishment was needed for violations of the new cellphone policy. The change had also been discussed before the policy was created, in response to the ineffectiveness of the previous punishment.
US Dean of Students Rory Morton ’81 came up with the new policy.
“We knew, especially if we were dealing with cellphone issues, that it needed to be addressed right away,” he said. “We knew that at the same time we had to be flexible to some extent so that it could be realistic.”
Mr. Morton said the new detentions are supposed to have a bigger impact on students.
“You’re trying to not infringe on kids’ time, but if their actions are actions in which they’re not being considerate of other people’s time or efforts, then why should they have the option of being able to make it convenient for them?” he said. Mr. Morton hopes the new policy will help students follow the rules. “It is a deterrent,” he said. “Kids don’t like missing their sports commitments or their after-school commitments, and they don’t like having to tell their coach or their teachers that ‘oh, I can’t be here at the first half because I’m in detention.’ No one’s going to be happy about that, so I hope it actually motivates kids to be a little more thoughtful about ‘okay, I don’t want to give this up.’ If you don’t want to give it up, then just follow the rules. Do what you’re supposed to do and chances are you won’t be in that situation.”
US Assistant to the Dean of Students Kerri Anne Shea is in charge of running detentions. Before the system changed this year, students were required to perform tasks during detention. She had to come up with activities, such as organizing printer paper each week.
“I was asking to change it for years anyway because having to come up with tasks for kids to do during the day was getting a little ridiculous,” Ms. Shea said. “It was more work for me trying to find tasks for kids to have to do.”
With the new policy, students will still occasionally help teachers with organizational tasks, but only when necessary. Otherwise, students will have “quiet time.”
“I don’t want students to be scared of detention but I would like them to take it more seriously,” Ms. Shea said. “It’s not supposed to be fun. I knew students weren’t taking it seriously because they would tell me they were having fun or they actually enjoyed whatever task they were doing, or I would see them talking and laughing with friends or other classmates when they were supposed to be focusing on a specific task. Other times I would give a student a task and they would respond with ‘wait, this is all I have to do?’ Conversations like these brought up the obvious need for a change.”
Varsity Football (VF) player Liam Cunningham ’27 said the new rules will make students more scared of getting in trouble.
“The new detentions will definitely make people not want to commit those kinds of errors. Especially the athletes, it’s a huge, important part of their day.”
Liam said missing practice would be harmful to student-athletes.
“It would be detrimental because practice is incredibly important for the development of our players,” Liam said. “We go over a lot of information during practice, which is crucial for games and it would be a shame if somebody would have to miss practice over their actions.”
Liam said the threat of a detention deters him from breaking the phone policy.
“It definitely makes me not want to take out my phone at all,” he said.
VF Head Coach Mike Willey said it is the students’ responsibility to not get a detention and miss practice.
“Obviously, if a student has to miss practice because they have to serve a detention, that’s going to put the team at a disadvantage, so it’s the responsibility of the student to not put themselves in that position,” Coach Willey said. “I think it will actually help make the students take a little bit more ownership on following the rules and not putting themselves in a position where they would get a detention.”
Coach Willey said he thinks other coaches will agree with him.
“We want to build cultures amongst teams in general that each student-athlete is trying to help their team out and do all the things the right way,” he said. “Part of that is doing the right things in school. I think all the coaches will support the policy and say, ‘okay, yep, that is what it is. Now let’s make sure our student-athletes don’t put themselves in a position where they’re going to miss practice.’”
Isaac Xu ’29 received detention last year for accidentally skipping a Health and Fitness class. He is not in favor of the change.
“I think other kids probably have similar opinions to me,” Isaac said. “They think it’s just a waste of time after school. I think the old one’s better, but the new one does motivate you to not get a detention.”
Ms. Shea and Mr. Morton said the specific details of what students will be allowed to do in detention are still being discussed, and they will adjust throughout the year as the new system is tested.
