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Administrators propose adding Friday detention and piloting phone pouches as discipline update
Summary
Central office officials proposed adding Friday to the policy’s detention options to reflect a four-day school week and said they will pilot a phone-pouch device, funded from remaining 2023 bond money, to let students keep phones for emergencies while blocking internet access during school hours.
A central office official (Speaker 1) told administrators the district is proposing a small change to the student-discipline policy to reflect the shift to a four-day school week: adding "Friday" alongside the existing "Saturday" detention option.
"I did not receive a single recommendation, a single idea," Speaker 1 said, describing that principals and administrators were asked to propose edits and largely did not. The official framed the edit as definitional and limited: "I just added the Friday there."
The proposed change comes after the district shortened its instructional calendar to four days, which has made some Fridays available for discipline-related interventions that previously occurred on Saturdays. Speaker 1 said the suggested edit followed conversations with assistant superintendents Mr. Zinger and Mr. Holly.
Administrators also questioned formatting and wording in the draft; one attendee asked whether an "SD" abbreviation on the screen should appear on the printed policy, and Speaker 1 confirmed the abbreviation was removed in the copy distributed to attendees.
Separately, the group discussed tightening the district’s cell-phone practices. Speaker 3 asked whether officials had considered aligning district rules with a state law some parishes have adopted banning phones at school. Speaker 2 responded that phones are already a banned item in practice but described a pilot for a device that would allow students to keep phones on campus for emergencies while preventing Internet access during the day. "They've actually made, a better device, which allows a student to keep their phone and have it during emergencies. It just would prohibit them from accessing it, Internet, during the day," Speaker 2 said, adding that the pilot would use money likely remaining from the 2023 bond.
Speaker 2 cautioned against making immediate policy changes before testing the pouch device: "I don't want don't necessarily think that should we should do any changes until we can have that pilot that program and see if it is successful."
On the district’s recent disciplinary climate, Speaker 2 described the past year as calm: "This past year has been extremely peaceful," saying offices saw fewer parent complaints and that the absence of major incidents informed the limited nature of the proposed edits.
Officials indicated the pouch pilot will proceed subject to available bond funds; no formal vote or final adoption of the detention-language change was recorded in the transcript.
