Adam Gelb, Security Enforce Attendance Mandate at Assemblies

by GEOFFREY FRANC

As Christian Pulisic scored the goal that sent the United States to the World Cup knockout stage, all Menlo students sat calmly in the gym for the Distracted Driving Assembly. Or did they? Security did their best to enforce assembly attendance, but a group of sophomores watched the game in the Creative Arts and Design Center, and about 10 seniors drove to a local restaurant to watch the game. Even some students present at the assembly watched on their phones, out of sight of the teachers patrolling the bleachers’ aisles.

Although some students choose to skip other assemblies, the Distracted

Driving Assembly highlighted the challenges the Menlo administration faces in keeping students engaged during assemblies. “Sometimes students automatically think, ‘well, I’ve seen this assembly before, or I’ve seen this content before, it doesn’t apply to me,’” Upper School Assistant Director Adam Gelb said.

In an attempt to enforce the assembly attendance mandate, the administration asks the security team to stop any student leaving through the front gates during assemblies, according to Director of Security Mustapha Moutri. “If they don’t have a note [from the Student Life

Office], or they’re not getting picked up for a doctor’s appointment or a dentist appointment, then they'll have to go back and go to the assembly,” Moutri said.

According to Gelb, a security officer is also dispatched to watch over the quad during assemblies, where many students leave their bags unattended.

Gelb said that most of the students he gives “friendly reminders” to are usually using the time for academic endeavors, not to have fun. “The students that I’ve seen that needed the reminders are always usually doing something like cramming for an exam, or preparing an essay or even meeting with a teacher,” Gelb said.

Gelb added that he and class deans walk through the library and other common study areas to remind students to go to the assembly, adding that they find “between two and five” students on campus not attending every assembly.

Moutri added that the security team finds a couple of students trying to leave campus entirely during each assembly. Gelb believes that most of these students are likely juniors and seniors because their ability to drive allows

After a student has gotten more than one “friendly reminder” to return to an assembly, Gelb asks the student to come for a check-in. He sometimes follows these meetings up with an email to the student’s parents; Gelb said that he sent less than five such emails in the first semester.

Some students are exempt from attending an assembly and instead meet with the school counselors if they express they would find the event distressing, Gelb added.

While he agrees that there is variability in turnout from assembly to assembly, Gelb doesn’t believe that it depends on the gravity of the topic. In the example of the Distracted Driving Assembly, Gelb believes that the subject connected with its audience of new drivers.

However, certain assemblies are guaranteed high turnout. “No one’s skipping the Holiday Assembly, that’s for sure,” Gelb said.

Gelb also noted the difficulty in curating an array of assemblies that are interesting to students. “To fill an assembly for 45 minutes and [to have] it be engaging for 600 students is a tough, tough ask,” he said.

Gelb said he plans to send out a survey to students asking for feedback on the assembly program in the Upper School, in part to better understand why students skip assemblies. “I kind of want to know, ‘why?’” Gelb said.