by Chase Wilson ‘17

Sherwood is spearheading a revolutionary pilot program in an attempt to control the increasing number of wandering students in the halls. The program separates chosen students from the rest of the student body by moving them into a section of the school that has been made completely escape-proof. Labeled “Purposefully Punctual,” the program is expected to be implemented in coming weeks.

Intended to curb unsupervised activity in the halls, the program will identify and separate students who are either a “flight risk,” meaning they have a tendency to leave school early, or students that are consistently seen roaming, running, singing, yelling, and generally being a disturbance when they are supposed to be attending class. Selection for the program will be based on a combination of attendance, referrals, and one’s ranking on tattle.com, a newly-created website in which users are able to anonymously name students who they have seen leaving the school or wandering the halls during class time. The profiles of students are then ranked based on their rating, and a number of students will be selected every week to be the subjects of this trial.

Sherwood has already contracted technicians to begin working on the doors in selected areas of the school. Crews are instructed to reinforce all of the doors within the areas, and also to revamp the security system of the exits. They’ve been told to include a fingerprint and retina scanner to ensure that only teachers and security guards may travel freely through those sections of the building.

Some concerns over the supervision of these students revolve around the size of the current security force, so interviews are currently being conducted to hire three to six new guards to comprise the new Tardiness Task Force (TTF), which aims to combat non-studious behavior. Administration is hopeful that the TTF and the current security team can work in unison to eradicate unwanted wandering and keep students in class.

The students selected for the program will not be allowed with the general population of the school during lunch, since that is the main time frame that students leave the school, so food will instead be served in the classroom.

“I do not think this will be enough,” said a teacher who wishes to remain anonymous, “If I know one thing about these students, it is that they can and will find a way to break out of here. Absolutely nothing can bar them from their ritualistic Chipotle or Panera meal.”

The student body is not as thrilled with the new program as a majority of the staff is. When informed about the new program, one uneasy junior stated, “So you’re telling me that we can’t leave and there are guards monitoring us all the time … I mean, that’s basically just prison.”