The New Ulm High school has decided to give kids a consequence for failing classes by taking away their open lunch. Students on the deficiency list at each grade posting must sit in a resource class for half an hour. This time is given to them to do homework and study. The duration of this punishment is three weeks, or until the next grade posting. During the other half hour of lunch they are to go eat in the cafeteria or goto the commons area, and they are not allowed to leave the school building.

When Emma Tauer, a senior at NUHS, was asked what her thoughts on this new policy were, she responded, “It’s nice to have that half hour, but it’s not the best punishment.”

Emma was asked what a better alternative would be and she responded, “If someone’s failing, they are already being punished by parents and the stress of getting that grade up. I don’t think they should have another punishment on top of that.”

When Mr.Ziemer, a counselor at NUHS, was asked what his opinions were, he responded, “Anything that helps motivate students to get their grades up is a good thing.”

When asked what an alternative would be if this doesn’t work he said, “With time we will see, but we have summer school and credit recovery. This past summer 78 of our summer school classes were completed successfully and only 16 were not. We’d like to see the number of summer school classes be cut in half.”

Overall this consequence is meant to motivate students to get their grades back up and to work on school work. By taking away students open lunch they are hoping to motivate students to get their work done. By the next grade posting, if students are able to get their grade up, they will be rewarded with receiving their open lunch privileges back.