Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Dear Parents,

Overton High School is pleased to announce a new alternative for low-level disciplinary infractions. Many parents voiced concerns last year that they realize and accept that their child must be held accountable for failure to follow school rules, but asked if we could develop an option that would not require that they miss classroom instruction.

In response to parent requests, Overton High School will have Saturday School. Saturday School is essentially a two hour detention from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. held at Overton. This will be offered as a choice to parents for many low-level offenses that are not disruptive to the learning environment. Examples would be repeated dress code violations, tardies, etc.

Saturday School is a choice in some circumstances. No student will be forced by the school to accept this as a punishment. Rather, we want to offer this as a choice to students and parents so that students are held accountable to school rules while avoid missing valuable classroom instruction.

Transportation to and from Saturday School is the responsibility of the student. The school does not provide transportation.

It is our hope that very few students will need to access this option. However, we feel that it is important to offer this choice in specific circumstances.

On the back of this letter you will see a copy of the contract that we will use for Saturday School. The rules and conditions for Saturday School are listed in this contract, as well as the consequences for not following.

Again, we hope that few students will need to access this option, but we want to help provide choices for parents and make sure that our students have every opportunity to receive instruction in the classroom.

Respectfully,

Dr. Shuler Pelham, Executive Principal