Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple. – Dr. Seuss
Having raised my children in Nutley, NJ I read the newstory surrounding the consideration of charging parents for the costs associated with detention with great interest.
First of all, kudos to the Board members that had the courage to raise the question. Most people sit in the comfortable position of challenging the question and answer like a Monday morning quarterback, but lack the creativity to think differently in the first place.
So before I weigh in on the topic, (yes, I am playing the role of the Monday morning quarterback) I am grateful to the original thinkers, School Board members Steve Rogers and Walter Sautter for recognizing an opportunity to make things better.
My opinion is that we would be better served to have the students do something to improve the school rather than being babysat in a classroom.
* In the cases where they can be directly tied to an offense such as grafitti, they should be held accountable to clean it up.
* Where they were sent to dentention for being rude, late or other disciplinary actions, I am sure there is a laundry list of school clean up, repair activities or administrative work that always needs to be done. In that way, the students are the ones paying the price, not their parents.
After all, the purpose of an education is about learning, and it seems as if the students in detention are the ones that need the lesson. Your thoughts?
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