This article was written by Katie Duprey and Clayton McLean on April 16th, 2004
A recent increase of rolling dice has led administrators to believe gambling is a growing concern.
Planning Room Director Tim Guilbault first noticed an increase in students using dice on free bands about a month ago. “If it isn’t stopped, it could turn into a big problem, but right now it isn’t,” said Guilbault. Middle School Assistant Principal Mark Mooney said the gambling is also linked to an increase in class cutting. In one case “a student was in trouble for cutting class, and the student made the comment that it was ‘ok anyways.’ When I (Mooney) asked why the kid answered that he just made $20 rolling dice.”
A couple of students don’t see gambling on campus as a problem. “I think it is beneficial for the development of wise usage of students’ money. It’s their decision whether to gamble or not,” stated sophomore Jimi Wilkins. “Better dollars now than thousands later.” Freshman Tyler Brink said that “as long as people are not getting violent over transactions, I don’t see it as a problem.”
High School Assistant Principal Bonnie Johnson-Aten disagreed with this attitude, saying, “Dice shouldn’t be used in school except for an educational activity.” Johnson-Aten thinks that other activities could instead be encouraged. “Playing games are a lost art,” she said, but added she is not so enthusiastic about playing cards at school. “I love to see kids playing games,” she concluded, as long as it had nothing to do with gambling.
One senior boy had his dice recently confiscated. “We were just rolling out on a table and Tim, the planning room guy, took our dice and wrote us up.” The senior said, “There is nothing to do in your free time. There’s no basketball court and no activities outside. Rolling is just something to do on free bands.” He believes that as long as people “keep their cool and just have fun rolling,” he doesn’t see it as a future problem.
To date, a dozen students or so have been talked to about rolling dice. Although no plan of action for how to discipline students has been formulated, Guilbault stated, “we have just started addressing this problem,” and currently their plan of action is to confiscate the dice.
