From May 2010

There are several methods of punishment that are used at Chamblee High School, one of them being In School Suspension (ISS), which is used to punish students who are caught skipping, acting belligerent towards their teachers or doing other various things that rebel against school rules. This punishment is supposed to be used as one of the most effective punishments, but is gaining the reputation that it is the weakest.
At Chamblee, ISS has commonly become known as an escape from normal classes, a break, almost more of a reward to the person than a punishment. The teachers are forced to sit in a small room to watch over students in ISS with a lack of work to do. Being in ISS seems like a better deal to the students than sitting in a class in silence while doing work.
“I’ve been in ISS several times, and not once was I given work to complete,” said junior Chance Tench. “On a few occasions, my regular classroom teachers were unaware that I had ISS to begin with, and depending on the teacher in charge, you really can just sit there if you want to.”
There are multiple teachers in charge of ISS: Celtis Graves, Kasturi Talukder
and Obiageli Uzoh. The teachers in charge of ISS alternate between the class periods, leaving the students with an easy way to talk and get away with explicit behaviors that should not be acceptable within the school building.
The students who are in ISS begin to assume that because there is no consistent teacher to watch over them, they can evade the school rules easier, with a new beginning each time a new teacher comes into the room.
“Last year with Mr. Lofton, we got all of our work done every time we were in ISS, he was the only teacher ever there, and we were a lot more productive than this year,” said junior Jackson Fink. “Last year it was both more enjoyable and more productive. Students take advantage of having more than one teacher each day, we are less productive and it is not as much fun.”
A teacher is supposed to regulate a classroom and keep everything in line, so to speak, while instilling good study patterns and good moral characteristics in their students. Teachers seem to have the opposite effect on students in the ISS room. The nicer the teacher, the less control they have over their room.
“I feel like I have control over the room while I am in the ISS room,” said Celtis Graves.
“Although, some students do have various interventions of their own. The kids who act up are mostly the attention-seeking ones.”
Several attempts were made to contact other ISS teachers for an interview. The teachers either answered the questions vaguely, or refused to be interviewed at all.
“Our ISS program is effective, for some of the students, granted some improvements
need to be made, ” said Assistant Principal of Discipline Marcus Searcy. “When I hear
about the claims of the freedom in ISS, I know that it needs to be corrected. All of
the parties involved need to be corrected which includes the teachers and myself, it is the only way to ensure that the program is effective.”
The ISS students are infamous for involving themselves in obscene actions within school hours, such as ordering a pizza from a company to be delivered to the room or just getting up and leaving the room.
“Sometimes we can still get away with things we should not do in school,” said Fink. “One time, we convinced the teacher in the room that we were allowed to leave school for breakfast as long as we were back by the end of fourth period, and she let us go!”
Compared to last year with Cornelius Lofton, this year has lost what appears to be the majority of the productivity that should be occurring in the room. With the chronic offenders finding more freedom within the tiny walls of the ISS room as opposed to their real classrooms, it appears either that the ISS punishment is not effective on the students or they are enjoying it more than being in their classes.
“ISS is better than school,” said Tench. “Especially if you have a friend in there with you.”