It’s difficult to overlook the somewhat disheveled state of prom-goers on their day back in reality. There are the dark circles under eyes, the hair which looks as if it has been brushed in about four seconds, and who could ignore the handful of students using pillows and blankets as accessories?

However comical the parade of pajama clad students may look, the Monday following the annual event of Prom has become a highly contested issue to students. Starting about eleven years ago, the decision was made to begin to penalize students for missing the Monday after prom.

“We started looking at numbers of kids that were missing that day and those conversations started taking place,” explained Director of Deans, Mrs. Denver. However, Central is not alone in the decision to give detentions to students who choose to extend their prom weekend. Hinsdale South is just another example of a high school which doesn’t tolerate unexcused absences after the dance (it should be noted that South is also in district 86, and therefore, both schools typically have similar policies).

Students who choose to miss the Monday after prom are given an extended detention, held on Wednesdays from 3:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. The repercussion for missing school is a woe which bothers quite a handful of students. Many believe that they should be able to kick back and relax at the end of the year. Others are vying for an extra morning to sleep in.

“People have been up really late on Saturday and because we have the cruise, which the PTO encourages us to go on, we get home at four. We use Sunday to do homework and catch up on sleep. It makes sense to recover on Monday. It doesn’t make sense that it should be that big of a deal,” said Donna Dimitrova, senior.

Many others, like Dimitrova, hold similar opinions on the issue. But is taking away the penalty a viable option in this situation? While it may seem a simple solution to the problem, there are holes in this seemingly perfect resolution. By removing a punishment of any sort, it is possible that the Monday after would include a school with a quarter of the student body missing.

So now the question is the appropriateness of the punishment. Is three hours of detention necessary for missing one day of school? This is where things can be changed. While eradicating a punishment may not be beneficial to the school, minimizing the degree of the detention may be an option. Requiring students to stay after school for three hours for missing a day is, considered by many, a severe punishment in relation to the issue. Shortening the detention period may be an option to mollify the anger of students.

At the end of the day, there is no solve all for lowered attendance patterns. While punishments can be threatened, many have come to terms with the punishment in order to have some extra fun.