Do high school seniors deserve to have extra privileges over underclassmen? At Ipswich High School, we believe the answer is yes.
Senior students can apply for “senior privilege” starting in the second academic quarter. Having senior privilege means that you are able to sign out for R Block and lunch periods, keep your phone in your bag during the school day instead of turning it in to your first period teacher, and bring personal devices rather than use the school-issued Google Chromebooks. According to the school handbook, seniors must be a full time student, get parent permission, have had no more than five tardies, absences, or dismissals in the past 45 days, have no current grades below a C-, and have a clean disciplinary record for the last two quarters to qualify for senior privilege. Seniors can also lose this privilege if they commit a traffic violation, drive an underclassman student during the school day, or take out their phone during the day.
Senior privilege at IHS has changed greatly over the years. Mrs. Manos, who has taught math at IHS for many years, told me, “Way, way back, the school used to be an open campus – but that was decades ago. When my children came here, which was ten to fifteen years ago, there was no senior privilege.” According to a Tiger Transcript article by IHS class of 2017 seniors Emily Martineau and Haley Noone, previous seniors were able to go to the cafeteria during free periods, which were referred to then as “directed study” blocks. However, this privilege was revoked during the 2016-2017 school year. Regarding the privilege, Mrs. Manos said, seniors “couldn’t bring in coffee at that time, so they could get that there.” They were also able to get snacks from the cafeteria and it served as a good meeting place for seniors. Senior privilege as we know it today, in terms of leaving during free periods, began during the 2020-2021 school year in an effort to reduce the number of students in the school due to the Covid pandemic. IHS ended up keeping that privilege even once the pandemic was over. This school year, with the phone and personal device ban, IHS has also allowed seniors to be able to keep their phones turned off in their bags and to bring in personal devices.
But is the privilege to leave during free blocks really worth it? When interviewed on this topic, senior Lila Borgman excitedly exclaimed, “It is the joy of my day being able to go on senior privilege!” She leaves for R Block periods and lunch “any chance [she] gets.” However, other seniors rarely leave for lunches and R blocks. Senior Alex Wilt tells me he likes to stay at school because he’s “much more productive sitting at school than at home.” Alex says that he generally only uses the privilege to leave early on Thursdays, as second lunch is the last period of the day.
When asked what Lila does when she leaves school during the day, she said, “I go home and occasionally take a shower. I eat my lunch, go to the bathroom, and do my homework. Other times, I’ll just sit in my car and read.” She also informed me that while there is enough time to go to Ipswich’s downtown to pick up lunch, “you gotta be quick about it. You gotta know where you’re going, and you have to plan it out.”
Although she loves senior privilege as it is, Lila also has many ideas for how it could be improved in the coming years. She suggested implementing, “Senior Privilege Plus” for senior students that rank in the top few deciles of the class. This would include additional privileges such as “leaving during advisory on Tuesday, signing out online, having no hall passes, and being able to carry your phone in your hand instead of keeping it in your backpack.” Senior Mia Russo also added that these students could have “guaranteed parking spots” and she even suggested having a designated area for a “Senior Privilege Plus lounge.” Lila thinks that Senior Privilege Plus “would be good because it would motivate people to do better at school so they can get these privileges.”
On the other hand, Mrs. Manos and Alex are fairly content with how senior privilege is now. Even though Alex rarely uses the privilege, he thinks “leaving during R Blocks is beneficial for students” and doesn’t “think there are any issues.” Mrs. Manos believes senior privilege “is a nice motivator for the students” and she likes that “you have to earn it.” While she does see some downsides to the privilege, such as an increase of food and drinks in school and some students overspending, she is overall “for senior privilege.”
According to the student handbook, the purpose of senior privilege is “to reward positive academic and social behavior” and “to provide seniors with an opportunity to practice individual responsibility with support and guidance from the school.” After all of our hard work throughout years and years of schooling at Ipswich, seniors do deserve these privileges. As we only have a few months left before we go off to college or other directions, it is important for us to be given opportunities to practice greater independence.
