Sporting events, bus rides, field trips, extra-curricular activities — these are everyday privileges students often take for granted. What if they were taken away? To begin the new year, the discipline department will be adopting an alternative form of punishment for secondary or borderline infractions called the Progressive Discipline List (PDL). Students who manage to have their names added to the PDL lose their right to attend after school activities, such as clubs, dances, honors meetings, and athletics.

A person’s name can be added to the list by having poor attendance, failing grades, and a disciplinary record. Once a student’s name is added to the PDL, all individuals who interact with this student on a regular basis will be notified, such as coaches, parents, and teachers. Students are banned from staying after school until they are removed from the list.

In order to be extracted from the list, an unannounced meeting will be held in the Sonderling or Ross gyms or auditoriums. These meetings will contain an audience of members on the current list, as well as a panel of administrators, guidance counselors, and other faculty. This is the students’ chance to “present their case” to the panel and prove that their behavior has improved. When not presenting, students are also graded as members of the audience. If a student is caught acting in an inappropriate manner before or after he approaches the panel, he will be removed from the meeting and forced to wait until the next meeting to plead his case again.

These meetings will take place twice a month. Students with last names A-M will have a meeting in the beginning of the month, and last names N-Z will have meetings at the end of the month according to the current plan.

The PDL list has already proven successful success in the middle schools. Mr. Loper, who is in charge of the list in Sonderling, says that administration is almost done working out the details. He also says that in order for the list to succeed here, it will need heavy involvement from members of staff and administrators.