Head of Security Dominique Dixon patrols the halls during class.

by Ziv Golan ‘26

Like many high schools throughout Montgomery County and the rest of the country, Sherwood for years has confronted the problem of students skipping classes by wandering the halls and hanging around corridors and in school bathrooms. Such behavior hurts those students academically, but also it raises concerns about school security and safety when there are people roaming the building who are unsupervised. This school year administration is addressing the problem by vowing “to take back the hallways.” Part of this effort began last school year with some bathrooms being locked due to students using illicit substances in those spaces.

Over the summer, the school’s administrative team created a strategic and comprehensive plan to address the many issues.

“The staff will communicate the expectations and if they are not followed, the following steps will occur,” explained Assistant Principal, Heidi Vermillion. “Step 1, teacher and student will have a one on one conversation to reinforce expectations. Step 2, the teacher will contact the student’s guardian and log the communication in Synergy. Step 3, the teacher will contact the guardian again, assign a detention, and log the communication in Synergy. Step 4, Administrative referral, and the admin response will vary based on individual cases.”

According to Vermillion the plan has been effective so far but will continue to be re-evaluated throughout the year.

The new policy includes new actions teachers have to take to stop kids from skipping. “We’re supposed to stand out in the hallway in between classes to make sure students are not wandering the halls, and we’re also supposed to contact home about excessive absences,” said English teacher Patricia Jasnow.

The new policy has seemed to alleviate many concerns that teachers had.“I’m happy we have some better measures in place as students will get more information when in class, and it is less of a distraction to students when kids aren’t wandering the halls. I think this year’s been better,” said Jasnow.

The students that skip take up a disproportionate amount of security’s time. “When we catch students skipping it’s normally the same students for the most part and we assign lunch detention or after school detention,” said Head of Security Dominique Dixon. “When it’s the same students a phone call home to the parent is made.”

The Security Team has been utilizing different methods that have proven to be effective, according to Dixon.“The security team has been checking student passes and if a student can’t produce a pass they will get a lunch detention or after school detention as we walk the student back to class,” explained Dixon.