Have you been seeing an abundance of green slips handed out in assembly? This is the new protocol for MacDuffie detention. Since January, MacDuffie has experienced an increase in detentions due to reinforcement and alterations of the Student Handbook policy, which have been especially prevalent among boarding students.

New Dean of Students Zachary Hensley said that while there have been a few shifts, “part of what I have done is I have tried to bring a little more consistency” to the detention policy. Before Hensley’s more consistent detention implementations, each absence from a class (which originally would have warranted a detention) did not have individually correlated consequences; rather, “multiple instances that would have gotten a detention on their own would have been stacked into a single detention so the punishment was not proportional.” The past policy allowed students to find loopholes and “make economic decisions to skip class.”

Another change that has been recently enacted is the use of physical slips to inform a student of a detention. Hensley described how the slips were meant to “streamline the system,” preventing notifications from being ignored or simply not received.  

Hensley, also a psychology teacher, explained that “learning comes down to conditioning, reward and punishment.” In regards to detentions, Hensley said the administration is trying to create structures that support good behavior and help prevent making bad choices.

The main reason students are receiving detentions are for missed classes, or events of requirement for a full block. Specifically, missing CAPs has been enough to result in a two hour detention for many boarders.

Hensley explains that a primary cause of students missing classes is their lack of awareness following free blocks. “Given the way that our schedules are set up having free blocks…students sometimes have trouble making it to their blocks. That break can sometimes just be enough to put you off what class you’re supposed to be in.”

Though Hensley wishes to inconvenience as few people as possible, he expressed that making it to mandatory activities, classes, and assemblies on time is a responsibility that students need to follow. Hensley said, “I believe every student here to be capable, and at the same time, I think it’s important that students know that we are paying attention, and part of that is stepping up the schedule.”

While MacDuffie’s current detention system simply consists of punishment by removal, Hensley explained that he hopes to have a reflection piece as another mandatory element of detention in the future. He wishes to create an atmosphere that is “aimed more at growth and development” instead of just serving the time. He explained the main goal behind detention is to “get students to class, to doing what they are supposed to be doing, and encourage good behavior.”

For upper-schoolers, missing an entire block of an obligation warrants a two hour detention, and missing assembly or all of mandatory extra help edicts a one hour detention. In the case that a middle schooler receives a detention, the time served is half.

Hensley is pleased with the updated system thus far, voicing that it now more accurately fits the mold of what we say and represent as a school. He believes that the new system has effectively reimplemented the framework of detentions, which had been deteriorating since the initial institution of the policy. In the future, he hopes to make amends to the policies surrounding tardies, as this has been another frequent issue teachers have been experiencing in their classrooms.