"CHICAGO (AP) — A sense of order and decorum prevails at Noble Street College Prep as students move quickly through a hallway adorned with banners from dozens of colleges. Everyone wears a school polo shirt neatly tucked into khaki trousers. There's plenty of chatter but no jostling, no cellphones and no dawdling.
The reason, administrators say, is that students have learned there is a price to pay — literally — for breaking even the smallest rules.
Noble Network of Charter Schools charges students at its 10 Chicago high schools $5 for detentions stemming from infractions that include chewing gum and having untied shoelaces. Last school year it collected almost $190,000 in discipline "fees" from detentions and behavior classes — a policy drawing fire from some parents, advocacy groups and education experts...."
The story goes on to explain how the system works - the students earn demerits for breaking rules (ex. shoelaces untied = 1 demerit, talking on a cell phone = 4 demerits). A student who earns 4 demerits within a 2 weeks period will earn a detention, and receive the fine. It also includes comments from parents, frustrated with the system and tired of having to pay for what they view as frivolous mistakes.
I'd love to know what your thoughts are on this. At first I was upset - just from the title of the story. I couldn't afford to keep paying fines! I would be furious at the school and my child! Especially if was for something like an untied shoe! Then after further reading, I learned it was a Charter school. So the parents and students chose to attend this school - knowing full well the discipline policy in place and the behavior expectations. The school is serving students from a low income area yes, but the students at this school are now outperforming surrounding neighborhood schools on college testing and in the percentage of students who end up attending college. When I read how the demerit system actually worked, that small infractions built up whereas larger infractions held immediate consequences, I thought, well that isn't so bad at all... Especially if you made the choice for your child to go to this school. So, I went from annoyed and in shock at this horrible school, I've now come to believe that this is working, and those who don't like it can certainly leave. Am I missing something? Do you agree? I'd love to hear about it.
For me, it seems like there is so little discipline and accountability for so many students, that this is a great program that is in the long run, helping these kids to better themselves and their future.
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