It was a story that reminded me of “The Boy Who Lost His Face” and other books by Louis Sachar and/or Andrew Clements, but I can’t find it by either of those authors. I think it’s about a group of students who get sent to detention or some kind of remedial class and they form their own community and refer to themselves as “the Dregs.”
But this was solved. Please Remove Your Elbow From My Ear, by Martyn Godfrey.