Students serving detention will now serve their detention cleaning tables and picking up trash in the quad.
Students who receive detention must help the maintenance crew for 15 to 20 minutes for five days before and  during school.
Students in detention met Monday morning with upper school Attendance Coordinator Gabe Preciado to discuss the new format,  and to get their detention forms. Students must get their forms signed off each day by the maintenance crew to get credit for their service.
This new punishment is designed to replace the system in which students had to show up Wednesday morning for an hour and sit quietly or write character building essays. The new detention is still not finalized, but likely will be the new standard, Preciado said.
So far, Preciado says, the new detention has been well received by the maintenance crew, and Preciado will allow students to fulfill their detention during free periods if they cannot come before school.
“I think it’s an effective use of time,” Preciado said. “Midday is when we need help [cleaning the quad] the most.”
This week, around 20 students have been serving due to tardiness or cuts, so Preciado may expand how the students help the school. He wants to increase the number of departments who get help from students in detention.
“With the number of kids [in detention] increasing, we may need to extend beyond just the maintenance crew,” Preciado said. “I want to see how this could get them to know a new aspect of the school by meeting the teachers they have to work with. I think this can help in many ways, and benefit the school by giving back.”
So far, nearly 30 students have served the new detention, and overall they too find it helpful to the school.
“I like the new format compared to sitting in a classroom and staring at a wall,” Rebecca Armstrong ’14, one of the nearly 30 students who have served detention under the new system said. “The new format is beneficial to the whole school at least.”