The Disciplinary system at Timberlane Regional High School is suffering tremendously right now according to staff and students of Timberlane Regional High School. Kids are not held accountable when they are rude and disrespectful to teachers. In previous years Timberlane Regional High School did have a In school suspension program that was great two decades ago, but in recent years the school tended to let in school suspension slip away from them. Some students will get caught having and/or using vapes and the school will suspend them up to 10 days or even more depending on the severity of the infraction. which is like getting a 5 day vacation. Is a student really learning their lesson by getting five days off just to come back and do it again in a month?
In my opinion I believe kids should get a In school suspension. Yes, Timberlane Regional High School does have In school student support now. Kids will still get in trouble for vaping, being rude, and being disrespectful to teachers and the kid will either get a suspension or a slap on the wrist and say not to do it again. In school support has not been around long enough recently to notice any differences/changes according to Timberlane High School administration.
I got the opportunity to speak with a teacher at Timberlane Regional High School to see what their view was on the disciplinary system. Here is what they had to say, according to an experienced educator who will remain unnamed, “… The disciplinary system is definitely not as strong as it should be and I do think ISS (In School Support) should be taken stock of and be utilized more. The reason for my view is students will learn their lesson more if they are in school for the whole day doing their work and not using their phone. Getting in trouble for something that you do should be a consequence not a suspension where you don’t learn anything about what “you did wrong”.
I got the opportunity to speak with a student about the Disciplinary system at Timberlane Regional High School to see what their view was on it. A senior who has at times been in trouble said this, “…I Believe that the disciplinary system is a bit of a joke. Students should definitely be getting disciplined for the things they do like being disrespectful to teachers, fighting in school, vaping and being disrespectful to other students. In school suspension definitely needs to be used more to discipline students who are being disrespectful.”
Finally I got the opportunity to speak with Mr. Donovan who runs the in school support system to see what his views were on the in school support system. Mr. Donovan said, “Ya I believe that the in school support system is great for students where they can get their work done in a sufficient way. You’re also in a medium sized room which is great compared to being in a tiny room where you have no room.”
I asked Mr. Donovan what his thoughts were on getting a 5-10 day out of school suspension compared to getting a 1-3 day in school support suspension. He said, “In school support in my opinion is better where the student would be able to complete their work in school while being out of the classroom. Some students would like to argue that in school support is worse because you do have to be in school doing your work rather than being out of school sleeping in and doing what you want.”
I also asked Mr. Donovan if students were allowed to leave the classroom when they wanted and he said no, they cannot leave the classroom when they want. “If they need to leave for restroom reasons or anything else they will need an escort to do so. I also like to mix in breaks as well so me and the student will take a walk just to get out a little bit.”
All and all I believe the Disciplinary system is making its way back slowly but surely. From what I have researched about in school support is there is a great teacher running the program and I can see the program growing in the up and coming years of being at the school.
