It does require students to stay after school, but a new practice at Marietta Middle School isn't detention, say administrators, it's a second chance.
Grades have improved at the school since the implementation of the No Zero Zone, as well as some schedule changes and more opportunities provided for staff to work together.
From 2:12 to 2:55 each afternoon, students who have failed to complete an assignment in any class head to the No Zero Zone, where they can finish the assignment, get full credit and have help from teachers if they need it.
"It's not a punishment," said Marietta Middle School Principal Will Hampton. "This is help. We had too many kids that just weren't doing their work and there wasn't much to motivate them. This isn't optional. It's now a part of our school day."
The increased focus on academics, including implementation of the No Zero Zone modeled after a Dover Middle School program, has likely helped the school reduce by 25 percent the number of academically ineligible students in the last grading period, he said.
Typically between 160 and 170 seventh- and eighth-graders are academically ineligible for athletics and activities, meaning they aren't passing 75 percent of their classes each nine-week grading period. That number is now down to 48 students, said Hampton.
"These are early numbers, but I really believe we're making some headway with the kids," he said. "I'm really proud of how hard they've worked and how hard the staff is working."
Seventh-grade science teacher Kim DePue said students are benefiting from the No Zero Zone not just because they can get a grade instead of a zero but because they're learning from completing the assignment.
"Because they're doing those assignments, they're doing better on the tests and quizzes, too, and learning the material," she said.
More than half of the school's 672 students have already been assigned to the No Zero Zone at least once and there are usually at least 40 students there each day.
"Most of them have a pretty good attitude about it," said DePue. "They'd rather be cut loose at the end of the day... but they know this is a good thing."
Parents have told him that after the No Zero Zone experience, their children have become more responsible about doing their homework, Hampton said.
"They're more responsible and the teachers' grade books are more complete," he said. "We're doing a lot of different things here and I think all of it together is going to have a big impact."
