Madison Benicaso, a junior at Woodbridge High School, made history last week after being the first student to be issued after-school Zoom detention.

Benicaso slept through all of her classes last week. Like many students, Benicaso has become a bit of a night owl, staying up late and sleeping sporadically throughout the day. The change has wreaked havoc on her ability to function during her classes.

When her teachers reported the issue to the administration, the only suitable consequence, in their eyes, would be one hour of after-school Zoom detention.

She said she had to log into a Zoom meeting where the teacher was waiting, and she had to stay on the call from 2:35-3:35 with her camera on, full face shown, and her mic unmuted. 

“So I had fifteen minutes to get ready for the zoom meeting. I had a code sent to me from one of my teachers, and there was already a teacher waiting for me there. I basically sat there for a whole hour with my camera on, and staring at the clock. One time I started to doze off, and the teacher yelled at me so I couldn’t fall asleep.”

The threat of an after-school Zoom detention was used as a deterrent to ensure students behave in their online classes as if they were in actual school, and the threat worked well until Benicaso came along.

“It was absolutely the most boring thing ever,” Benicaso said. “It’s detention in your own house for an hour which I think is not fair.” 

In addition to keeping the camera on, microphone on, and having one’s full face shown, students are also not permitted to use their cell phone. If the teacher suspects a student is on their phone, they have to keep their hands visible for the remainder of the detention, and will be reminded to stare at the screen.

When her hour was up, Benicaso couldn’t wait to log out. “Once the clock hit 3:35, I left before the teacher could even tell me to go,” she said. 

Benicaso said she has learned her lesson, and she doesn’t want to find herself in a similar situation again. “I hope I never get after school zoom detention again because that was the worst.”

Students are reminded to get plenty of sleep and maintain as normal a sleeping schedule as possible.