The end of the 2022 school year brought a few significant changes for Chapman, the main one being Andrew McMillan stepping down from his principalship and Matthew Davis stepping up. Another change, one that impacts the entire district, was Mark Smith stepping up as the new superintendent. 

While both the new principal and superintendent share similar values to the old ones, the promotions still caused a considerable shift for Chapman. 

The beginning of the 2023 school year saw a new level of rule enforcement that Chapman — and the district as a whole — had never seen before.

Davis said that the main difference is the behavior matrix, a guide that informs administrator’s decisions, has been changed and is being strictly enforced.

“(The matrix) has gotten stricter,” Davis said. “Go online to Spartanburg District One and go to the behavior matrix section for the high schools. The matrix changed this summer; boom. The board approved it, and it’s totally different.”

Possibly the most prominent example of changes in rule enforcement would be the new consequences for student dress code. Students across Chapman have expressed opinions of the increase in enforcement, ranging from positive to negative. The main question is the same: What caused this increase?

Assistant Principal Amy Driggers has a simple answer. 

“We’ve been understaffed by one vice principal for as long as I’ve been here,” Driggers said. “It’s always been Mr. Davis and I. There’s supposed to be three of us. So naturally, we had to focus our attention on more important things, like if a kid had a medical emergency, or if someone posed a danger to the school. Little things like dress code were kind of on a back burner.”

Now, with three assistant principals and Carrie Forrest taking on certain administrative duties, the staff is able to focus on rule enforcement more than ever before. 

“We have put more teeth into dress code enforcement,” Driggers said. “It helps students realize that there’s no bias; no dilly-dallying over what consequence to give them. What you do defines what consequence you get, and that keeps them in line.”