Scituate High School has a new administration this year, and they have introduced some policies and messages to improve attendance. Principal Marc Loranger sent an email to parents before the winter break stating, “Attendance continues to be our main focus, and we need your support to improve our tardy and absentee rate.”

Administrators have shown their commitment to improving education through attendance by establishing a policy to dissuade students from being late or missing school: Any student who is late to school will miss out on their after-school sport, and after five tardies, will serve an office detention.

Losing the privilege to participate in after-school sports is called “negative punishment,” which is the practice of removing something that is desired to discourage a behavior. 

While forms of punishment can improve attendance, negative punishment can also cause a rift in the relationship between students and administrators. Freshman Anne Cote commented about the initial stages of the policy enforcement: “It felt like they were trying to punish us and say that we couldn’t be trusted instead of welcoming us.”

An article by the National Library of Medicine notes that positive reinforcement works “exceedingly better and faster than punishment.” Positive reinforcement is rewarding good behaviors to encourage them to continue.

Scituate High School could use positive reinforcement to promote better attendance. Using the “Class Cup Challenge” as encouragement, the graduating class with the fewest tardies could earn a point for their cup each week or each month. This constructive approach would promote timeliness while creating a sense of reward that would make the school feel like a more comfortable place.

In a Scituation article by seniors Edson Andrade and Michael Porter about the impact of the tardy policy, Principal Loranger mentioned the possibility of an honor roll for students with three or fewer tardies or absences. This would help students recognize the importance of attendance–similar to how the honor roll for grades makes them think about how they could benefit from good grades.

There are always options for kinder enforcement of rules, and when the evidence so clearly points to them working, it is easy to see why they should be used. Everyone wants SHS to feel like home, and a big step toward making it feel that way is changing how we look at rules and punishments.