This school year Lincoln has implemented several new security regulations. These include a Lincoln policy in which students have a lunch detention after they get three tardies in the span of five days and a Portland Public Schools policy which requires students to wear their student ID cards cards when on campus.
“[Lincoln administration] really want to have [ID cards] out at all times in the building so Campus Security Associates (CSAs), teachers or administrators can identify that you are a Lincoln student,” said Von Eslava, a Lincoln High School CSA.
This new policy is a result of several occurrences last year of students spending time in schools other than their own.
“The building is a public building after hours, but we had kids letting other kids in during school hours, which is why we have signs on the door saying don’t let anybody in no matter what,’’ said Eslava.
ID badges will also be required to be worn by spectators at sports games and other school events.
“I think the goal is [to wear ID cards] for all games, especially because some of the safety issues that happened last year were [at] games. We’re always supposed to have them at dances and after school activities,” said Principal Peyton Chapman.
Another new policy this year is the tardy policy, which was implemented due to higher rates of tardiness during the 2022-2023 school year.
“[Last year] a student was documented being tardy 36,000 times. Our attendance rate was also very low,” said Travis Johnson, Lincoln Vice Principal.
There were 640 tardies recorded in the first week and a half of school last year, whereas this year there were only 394.
Once a student has two tardies, they will be notified with a warning email. If they get three, they must go to the “Late Lab”.
“If a student has three tardies over five days, they will get an invitation by email to go to room 103. A CSA will deliver a slip to them saying they need to come down at lunch. The student will have to fill out a form and [Lincoln Student Engagement Coach] Mr. Holford will have a talk with them and see what is going on,” said Johnson.
The goal of this new policy is to reduce Lincoln’s large amount of tardies.
“Kids come into class all willy nilly whenever they feel like it. We gotta get on top of that, [if] you know what I mean,” said Eslava.
