White walls. Blank faces. Numbing silence. Welcome to the PAS room.

PAS is in-school suspension where students are confined for the entire school day, except for bathroom breaks. PAS is among the most commonly given punishments, along with detention.

Here are a few stories from Hawks about their entry into PAS.

Matthew Breland, Sophomore

Sophomore Matthew Breland was going about his day as he usually did, until he was grabbed from behind and pulled to the floor. A new boy had recently joined his friend circle and played along with the jokes, until the new boy began to feel offended. Trying to send a message, he tackled Breland, who seemed to be the leader of the pack.

“I mean I’m in wrestling so instead of fighting back, I just held him there,” Breland said.

Although his parents filed for an appeal, it was denied. It is school policy for anyone involved in a physical confrontation to get 3 days each of in-school suspension and out of school suspension.

“I was pretty upset because I felt like I didn’t do anything wrong,” Breland said.

During the out-of-school suspension, students stay at home and complete their homework. Essentially the same idea as PAS, just with more freedom.

“I basically stayed home and caught up on homework and helped around the house,” Breland said.

Breland returned to school with no further issues; in fact, he seemed to be better than ever.

“[PAS] helped me catch up on school work,” Breland said. “If I was [away] for any longer, I would’ve fallen behind because I couldn’t go to class or get help from my teachers unless it was on their break and sometimes they had stuff to do. It was hard to communicate with them and learn the new stuff that my classes learned.”

Ashton Deloach, Senior

Turnback Tuesday was a terrifying day for all teens without a parking pass. Senior Ashton Deloach was one of the victims. Coincidentally, Deloach was driving in his mom’s car that morning, leaving his parking pass in his own car. As AP’s were directing traffic for other kids, he was pulled aside and told to wait.

“Technically, it was their fault I was late,” Deloach said. “I wouldn’t have been late if they hadn’t made me wait.”

Deloach was assigned a detention for being tardy, which he didn’t serve.

“I didn’t go because I didn’t feel like it,” Deloach said.

He was then called down to an AP’s office where they asked whether he wanted a day in PAS or another detention. He picked the latter, but missed that one too for the same reason.

About two days later, an office aide came in during Deloach’s Government and Economy class. As they were taking notes, he was pulled from class and put in PAS for a day. He wasn’t surprised since he was expecting to be caught, so he simply continued his note-taking.

“I was more hungry than bored in PAS,” Deloach said with a laugh.

Deloach is looking forward to graduating early in January at the end of the semester and plans to finish up some credits at Collin College.

“I wouldn’t skip another detention,” Deloach said. “I’d rather be absent than be late and get another one.”

Alexa Carboy, Senior

Dress code is a heated issue among the Hawks. Senior Alexa Carboy finally decided she had had enough.

Carboy was pulled aside to the library with 90 other girls one morning. Authority figures asked for all of their names and ID numbers and inserted into the system that they had all been dress coded. It was a warning, though parents still had to come and drop off clothes for the girls while they waited in PAS.

“I was really pissed off,” Carboy said. “I have a lot of friends from other schools around the district because of soccer and they say the dress code at their schools is basically non-existent.”

The next day, Carboy was determined to wear shorts. But this time, to make a statement, she and her mother measured her leg and marked where mid-thigh was. Carboy brought the measuring tape with her to school the next morning to show the authority figures that she was in dress code. Despite her efforts, she still got PAS – not only for dress code, but also for open defiance against authority.

“I kept repeatedly asking the authority, ‘What is mid-thigh?’ ‘What is mid-thigh?’” Carboy said. “And we just sat there debating but they just kept dodging my question by saying that it was their judgment.”

Carboy finally reached a tipping point.

“I got so fed up that I told them straight-up that they were abusing their power as authority figures,” Carboy said. “They didn’t have the right to go and judge what mid-thigh is on me and my friends, like this is a rule that clearly states, ‘At or about mid-thigh.’”

Carboy ended up getting three days of PAS for both her offenses. Believing the dress code to be unfair, Carboy went to the LISD Open Board meeting and explained her issues with dress code to the committee. In fact, her speech was so controversial, a West Zone Dress Code leader contacted Carboy and video taped her complaints of the dress code. In the end, dress code was less restricted and girls were allowed to wear leggings and shorts under a more lenient rule.

Carboy hopes to go to William and Mary when she graduates and is happy that the dress code has been lessened.

“I believe there are two types of people in the world,” Carboy said. “Leaders and followers. My mother always told me to pave my own way and that makes me a leader.”