School Board Dispute over New Proposal

Portsmouth, NH – The School Board proposed a new policy that a rule be instituted requiring students with disciplinary problems to attend a special Saturday morning session to reduce the number of in house suspensions.

School Board member Tim Steele made a motion to approve the new policy to reduce the number of students caught smoking during the school day, which automatically results in an in house suspension. Students are not allowed to make up work during an in house suspension, and the new program would mean students would miss no class time. Some parents who attended this meeting were outraged by the proposal.

“I work six days a week - including Saturday morning – and it’s bad enough to get my son off to school Monday through Friday,” said Peggy Bacon, a parent. “I know my son isn’t perfect…and the parents are going to have to pay for it in high taxes as well as ruined Saturdays,” she said.

Some students who attended the meeting were also annoyed by the idea, including the ones who have never previously served an in house suspension.

“In twelve years of school I’ve never served a detention and I don’t intend to. But I don’t like this idea, and I think it’s just being done to make life easier for the faculty so they don’t have to deal with detentions during the week,” said high school senior Lisa Gallagher.

After about thirty minutes of discussion, the board voted 5-3, with one member abstaining, to table the issue until its next meeting.

The superintendent of schools also delivered an administrative report detailing the School Department’s efforts to push forward with a $21 million budget for the next school year.

Superintendent Nathan Greenberg indicated that the budget represents an increase of 5.5% over the current year’s spending. He reported to have formed a special citizens committee to review how other communities fund education with tax dollars.

The School Board also heard several committee reports, which included one from the rental committee about advertising the rental of school rooms and buildings in the classified section of the newspaper. Also, the maintenance committee reported that graffiti artists had attacked the back wall of the Middle School. Lastly, the athletic committee proposed guidelines for fundraising by Booster Clubs, which will be discussed at a later date.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:15 p.m. The next one will be held on March 7, 2009.