According to Principal John Williams, starting this quarter, Saturday detention is replacing the community service in which students would stay after school and work with a custodian. Students who receive Saturday detention will come to school on select Saturdays from 8 to 10 a.m. and do homework while being supervised by staff members.

Saturday detention is for minor offenses such as continuous hall sweeps and tardies and is a level up from typical after-school detention with a staff member.

“For example, let’s take tardies. Your first is a warning, then your second hall sweep is a detention. And then your third or fourth is a Saturday detention,” Williams said.

According to Williams, this is a better option than students working with a custodian.

“The work that our custodians do is something I’ve never been comfortable having students do,” he said. “Our custodians are not trained on supervising kids and I don’t think they should have to do that.”

Student Body President Bobby Greaser said he agrees that custodians should not have to supervise students.

“I’ve seen kids stay after school and work with custodians before and I’m sure it’s a hindrance to the janitors and how efficiently they could get done with their work,” he said. “I don’t think it was a bad system but I think it could hurt efficiency within our custodial staff.”

Williams said he also prefers having a Saturday detention because it incorporates both inconvenience for the student and possible academic assistance.

“(Saturday detention) is certainly inconvenient so hopefully it’ll be a deterrent. Secondly, it’ll have an academic aspect; kids have to bring work in and we’ll have staff members if they need help. Students won’t be able to use their phones at all,” he said.

Greaser said he agrees that Saturday detention would be a discouragement for minor offenses.

“Nobody wants to come to school on a Saturday, so it’ll definitely be a potential deterrent for behavior that goes against our code of conduct. Since 8 to 10 on a Saturday morning is a time meant for sleeping in, hopefully this is the next step in deterring kids from breaking the code,” he said.

Greaser said that he believes some people may prefer a Saturday detention since it allows people to pursue their after-school activities.

“Some kids may actually prefer this since kids who are involved in sports and after-school activities, they might want to go to those and they might prefer a Saturday detention. This just opens up more possibilities for student services department,” Greaser said.

Overall, Williams said he hopes that this new system will curb more students from receiving detentions.

“If they go there and they don’t work on homework or if they get in trouble, then it goes up to the next level. The goal of discipline is to change behavior, it’s not necessary punitive,” he said.