Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Policy changes proposed for 2005-2006 school year

Prescott High School students should be getting ready for some major changes in school policy for 2005-2006.

Willie Wilson, dean of students, put forth proposed policy changes for the Prescott School Board to ponder, and vote on in its July meeting. This was done at the Boards June meeting.

The first change, if approved, would be any student not eligible for graduation wouldnt be allowed to participate in all of the end of the year senior activities. These include class day, the senior breakfast and awards day. Project Graduation wouldnt be included as its not a school-sponsored event. Wilson said the sponsors of Project Graduation could make this decision.

A big change could be the addition of a Saturday school. This would be done in an attempt to make up lost instruction time due to excessive tardiness, truancy or other incidents. It would be assigned by the principals office from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. during the school year.

Should a student be late for Saturday school, they would not be allowed to attend on this particular day, but could return the next Saturday. Absences from Saturday school also get a day added, on the first offense.

The second offense, though, will result in a Families in Need of Services (FINS) petition being filed with the court system.

Should Saturday school be approved by the Board, students would be required to get to school on their own and bring their own lunch.

The idea behind the Saturday school, Wilson said, is to reduce discipline problems, while also providing instruction to the students.

There could also be a change in the checkout procedure at PHS. Should the policy be approved, parents or guardians must check a student out in person. Notes and/or phone calls will not be accepted. But, if a student has their own transportation, they may bring a note stating the reason for checking out. Their parent/guardian will be called for the time of the checkout as well.

Another proposal is to make in school suspension (ISS) attendance mandatory for those so sentenced. The student assigned to ISS will spend their time there instead having the choice of out of school suspension (OSS).

And, any student in ISS may not attend or participate in any after school function until they have returned to their assigned classrooms for at least one-half a day. There was some debate on this, as members of the Board said once the student had served their time, this would be a kind of additional punishment. It will be further discussed at the July meeting.

Additionally, the dress code will be modified, adding all shirts must have sleeves at least two inches from the shoulder seams. No sleeveless shirts will be allowed. Nor will sagging pants be allowed. Breaking these rules will result in having to change or alter the clothing the first offense and ISS with a parent conference the second time.

The Handbook Committee, Wilson said, wants the Board to form a committee to look into the possibility of school uniforms for the 2006-2007 school year. This issue was examined a few years ago, with the Board opting, then, not to have uniforms.

Gambling is apparently now a problem at PHS. Because of this, a proposed policy change reads the first offense results in three days in ISS, the second offense gets the perpetrator Saturday school, while the third time will see the student(s) recommended for either expulsion or attendance in an alternative learning environment (ALE).

However, Wilson said, card gamed, dice throwing and other games of chance may be used in the classroom if there is evidence of instructional value.

The committee also proposed a change in the OSS penalties, with the second resulting in a FINS petition and the third time being a recommendation for ALE or expulsion.

Wilson also presented the Board with a breakdown of discipline infractions for the year. Most were for ISS (163 occurrences) and detention (83).