As the lunch bell rings, most students head to the cafeteria to order food or eat with friends. For some Westwood students, however, that bell signals something else: lunch detention. After several years without this supervised disciplinary action, lunch detention made a comeback in school as October came to a close. Administrators took this measure to reduce tardiness and reinforce the importance of being on time.
Assistant Principal (AP) Melissa McWherter explained that the decision to reintroduce lunch detention was based on data showing that most tardies occur during first and fifth blocks — the start of the school day. The APs call these random checks tardy sweeps. They take place on randomized days, and check for students tardy to their first or fifth blocks. The APs used statistical data to determine if this measure was requisite.
“We do tardy reports every few weeks sometimes, and there’s certain thresholds that we look at,” Ms. McWherter said. “If a student meets that threshold, then there’s a consequence, and detentions for those who don’t.”
The school deems it important that students are well-prepared for the start of school, aiming for the day to begin with minimal interruptions.
“It’s really important for students to be here and in class when teachers start teaching,” Ms. McWherter said. “Over the years, we’ve tried different strategies, but a few weeks ago, we decided to bring back the first tardy sweep.”
Ms. McWherter explained how while lunch detention has always been a disciplinary option within the school’s policies, it had not been put into practice until recently. The administration hopes this visible and new consequence will combat excessive tardiness, especially with the removal of the absence-based exemption policy.
“Between the first two tardy sweeps this year, we’ve already seen a decrease in the number of tardies,” Ms. McWherter said. “Hopefully, missing some social time with friends helps students see the importance of being in class at the start of the day.”
While the initial focus of these sweeps has been on tardiness, administrators are also assigning lunch detention for other disciplinary issues, such as phone misuse or skipping class.
“It’s one of the tools we can use in our wheelhouse for handling violations of the code of conduct,” Ms. McWherter said. “It is not necessarily just assigned for tardies.”
Students have had mixed reactions to the renewed use of lunch detention. For some, it came as an unexpected surprise. Students were caught off guard when they were held up at the door, despite some claiming to be only 30 seconds late, and were not permitted to attend class before stating their name and being handed a lunch detention slip.
“I was a bit surprised because I’ve come late before and never got detention,” an anonymous student said. “Honestly, [lunch detention] was pretty fun. A lot of my friends were there, so we just talked. It didn’t really feel like a punishment.”
The anonymous student estimated that 150 to 200 students received lunch detention after the first tardy sweep.
“If anything, it seemed like more people got tardy the second time,” the anonymous student said. “It didn’t feel like a deterrent at all.”
Some students saw this as something unnecessary and unfruitful, thinking it did not help decrease tardiness. The school is also implementing this consequence for other misconducts.
“I was a little bit surprised because I didn’t think they were really going to do anything about the phones,” Blake Bhavaskar ‘28 said. “I got my phone taken and my AirPods taken three times, so then they gave me lunch detention. I didn’t really think they would do any punishments for that besides just taking it. I thought it was pretty dumb that I got lunch detention. We weren’t allowed to talk or anything. I don’t think it’ll stop anyone, [though]. People will just find ways around it.”
The administration plans to continue tardy sweeps throughout the year. Whether lunch detention becomes a meaningful consequence or simply another part of campus culture remains to be seen.
“I would anticipate with great positivity that there will be more tardy sweeps moving forward,” Ms. McWherter said. “It is already in use as a consequence for other violations of the code of conduct.”
