The High School Handbook

 

  
OK, so my older kid made the jump - into High School, that is. Before school started, we received in the mail the Student-Parent Handbook. Everything you wanted or needed to know about high school, in one tidy booklet. A good two-thirds of the (80-page) book is dedicated to policies and procedures. It's pretty well-written and straightforward. For each rule, it talks about what is prohibited, defines it, and specifies the penalties for first offense, 2nd offense, and so on. The day it arrived, my wife, my son and I sat down and started going through it. After the first few "Yup, did that" lines, I got kicked out of the room. :(  Anyway, later I snuck in and took a look at the book. Times have changed since I was in high school -- I don't recall my high school's weapon's policy, for example. The dress code was a little less, uh, explicit in those days as well. Anyway, some things I got a kick out of:

Verbal/Non-verbal Sexual Harassment policy:  (Inappropriate gestures, offensive literature, pictures, notes, sexual staring, derogatory comments, jokes, slurs or remarks of a sexual nature). First offense: Detention. Second Offense: 1-3 day suspension. Third offense: 3-5 day suspension.
OK, for the record I'm glad they have this policy. Now for the reality: sexual staring? 14-year old boys being thrown in the same building as 17-year old senior girls? Give 'em all a week or two of detention to start the year off right. Then alternately suspend half of them every other week.

Theft/Larceny -- First offense: 1-3 day suspension, possible police notification and parental conference.
Theft/Larceny Involving School Property -- First offense: 10 day suspension, police notification and parental conference and possible expulsion referral.
Well, it's pretty clear, if you're going to steal in school, make sure you steal from another student. Face it, if you really want to steal school property, convince someone else to steal it, and then steal it from them. It'll be much easier on you if you get caught.

Outrageous Conduct -- First Offense: Multiple detentions or 1-day suspension.
Again, put every teenager I've ever met down for a few of these.

Computer Hacking
I really don't remember anything about this in my high school student manual....

And, the old standby: Invalid Tardy to School -- First Offense: Warning.

 

 

  
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