This year, students under LOP (Loss of Privileges) will face a significant policy change. As proposed in an amendment to the Community Handbook, students will now be required to turn in their phones during the school day for the duration of their LOP.

Opinions differ on the subject of student discipline, but alumni faculty have expressed their support with LOP and the points system both as students and educators.

Head Boys Varsity Basketball Coach Eric Singletary ’93 expressed his support of the LOP system, stating that it “serves as a barometer for [the] team’s overall culture.” While sharing his personal experience with LOP as a Sidwell student, and how the system compares to today, Singletary recognized that although it was relatively unchanged, more infractions are penalized now. He also acknowledged LOP’s benefit, stating that it “served its purpose” and allowed him to “get more work done in mandatory study halls.”

Upper School Latin teacher Jake Watson ’18 also shared how the LOP system positively impacted his educational experience, saying that a LOP he received in his junior year drove him to substantially reduce tardiness in college. He also stressed the importance of “schoolwide norms that students understand on day one” and encouraged students to uphold “values that benefit the whole community” rather than “just following rules to get by with one teacher”.

In Watson’s opinion, “the new phone rule is effective because it encourages students to be present with each other.” Moreover, he pointed out that “it’s very hard to get class started when students are on devices right before the bell rings,” and suggested that the new phone turn-in policy might prompt students to reevaluate their daily electronic device usage.

The LOP system was first established by Department of Justice attorney-turned-Upper School English teacher Neal Tonken in the 1990s, and has since evolved into a comprehensive: get nine or more points and become LOPed.

LOP debuted at Sidwell in 1992, when the Upper School administration mandated a two-week period of LOP for absences related to extending vacations. At that time, the point system was still in its initial stages, but students could still be placed under LOP for violating rules such as arriving late, skipping class, chewing gum and other infractions.

In 2004, LOP was altered to suspend students’ liberties for fewer days but with heightened restrictions. The standard LOP period was reduced from ten days to five. Most notably, according to the September 2004 issue of the Horizon, students were required to carry around the infamous bright green ‘LOP sheets’ and obtain a teacher’s signature for every period of the day, including lunch. Free periods were converted into mandatory study halls, and forgetting to collect signatures resulted in additional days of LOP and other consequences.

The current points system  is a result of changes to the discipline policy in 2010, which doubled the number of points given for failure to clean lunch tables and to sign in after going off campus, among others. In addition, skipping Meeting for Worship, which was regarded by the administration as a major offense, constituted an automatic LOP.

However, by 2018, students started to get a second chance. Upper School Dean of Students Michael Woods initiated the “sunshine points” movement to promote positive reinforcement of good behavior. Students earn sunshine points by doing activities that benefit the community, and when a student received a sunshine point, they could use it to offset one disciplinary point from their record. Additional ways students earned “good” points included turning in their phones to the office for a day, cleaning up after others, or conducting other activities that improved the community.

Although the changes to the system may prove to be effective, the history of LOP is intertwined with a significant amount of controversy. Ever since the LOP system was created, students have voiced their concerns regarding the effectiveness, fairness and morality of using points to enforce petty violations. Previous Horizon opinion articles regarding LOP have criticized its futility and irrelevance, stating that points are “the equivalent of time-out for teenagers” and that students should take initiative to realize the consequences of their own behavior rather than have the administration micro-manage their everyday decisions.

For many high schoolers, mobile phones are a crucial and integrated part of everyday social life —and losing them for a week is certainly a formidable deterrent to misbehavior. While this policy change eliminates the need for lunchtime detention in most cases and allows students a more productive schedule, the student body and the administration  diverge over matters of discipline. Only time will tell if the new change will improve student behavior or cause more harm than benefit.