Meeting Story

Soon, Portsmouth students who have disciplinary problems with the school may find themselves in a student’s worst nightmare: school on Saturday.

The Portsmouth School Board met on Monday to discuss the idea and it was debated heavily.

“In 12 years of school I’ve never served a detention, and I don’t intend to,” Lisa Gallagher, a senior and one of five Portsmouth High School students who attended, said. “But I don’t like this idea.”

“Maybe if [the students] have to miss a few Saturday morning cartoons they’ll start wising up,” Bob Farley of 64 Elm St. said.

School Board member Tim Steele made the initial motion to approve the new policy to require students who have disciplinary problems during the week to return to school for a Saturday morning session.

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

The board voted 5-3, with one member abstaining, to table the issue until its next meeting March 7.

Steele said the proposal was made in an effort to reduce the number of in-house suspensions, which is when a student is held under the supervision of a faculty member in an empty classroom, with no opportunity to make up the class work for the day. Steele said the new program would mean that the student would miss no class time.

Steele said the sessions would happen from 8 a.m. to noon many times throughout the school year and would require $3,000 to fund for faculty.

“I work six days a week – including Saturday morning – and it’s bad enough to get my son off to school Monday through Friday,” Peggy Bacon, a Portsmouth parent, said. “Why should I have to worry about Saturday as well? Why do we need the change?”

Steele said that amongst the disciplinary problems at school, smoking on the campus was the biggest problem the school as encountered.

“I just want to keep students from smoking in the high school bathrooms,” Steele said.

Other items discussed on the agenda were efforts to increase the education budget and a report detailing a 25 percent decrease in the rental of school rooms and buildings since last year and how to rectify that.