S‑201 is the dreaded, prison‑like place where students are sent for disciplinary reasons. But, is it really effective, or is it just an escape from attending classes?

Fighting, smoking, and excessive cutting would be causes for students to be sent home for a suspension from school. Teachers, counselors, and the administration felt a concern for students who would conscientiously break school rules. They realized that students liked being sent home. The students slept late, ate when they felt like it, and really did exactly what they wanted to. There was no real punishment except maybe their grades were hurting some, but this didn't matter to them.

Parents, also, felt this wasn't the best way to punish their sons or daughters. In most cases the parents worked all day, and the students were home to do as they please. Parents preferred that the students remain in school.

B-202 was set up as an in-school suspension. Students were sent here for a short amount of time, until the parents

could be reached so they could be sent home. It was also used as a first offense, in-school suspension. This, in the long run, did not work either. Students who were sent to B-202 for the day would leave every time the bell rang with the other students who were in there for a study hall. They would use B-wing washroom as a smoking lounge or run down to the cafeteria for something to eat and would be back in B-202 when the bell rang. This did not seem like much of a punishment.

S‑201 was then set up with the same theories as B‑202 only the students would be by themselves away from the rest of the student body. The room is designed as a study period. Students catch up on their class work or their sleep. A counselor is assigned every period to the approximate 10 students (mostly boys) who are sent to S‑201 during the day.

Where does it get them? This type of punishment, according to Miss Mae Jean Engen, dean of girls, is effective. "Students do not like to be sent there," she told me. Also, most students do not get in trouble again and therefore don't have to be sent to S-201. But, of course, there will never be a punishment that will work for everyone and S-201 is just a game they play.