I'm Late, I'm Late For A Very Important...Class
Tardiness Is Often More Disruptive Than Absences
by Paul Massman
August 20, 2008
Traffic congestion seems to grow each day, so our journey to school each day can be more time consuming than we expect. This causes concerns about being late to school with the warning tone at 7:30 and the tardy tone at 7:35 am.
If a student is late to school in the morning, he/she needs to go to the Attendance Office and get an "admit" to class. The student will need a written note from her/his parents or a telephone call explaining the reason for the lateness to the Attendance Office (366-8244 for the 24 hour recorder, 366-8249 from 7-3:15 for a secretary) . It needs to be taken care of within a school day.
If a student is late to class, he/she should get a hall pass slip/signature from the teacher who has detained them. If the lateness is due to his/her own actions, he/she should go directly to class. It is not necessary to go to the Attendance Office since teachers handle lateness like this to class themselves. Teachers have the option to accept (excuse) or not accept (unexcuse) the tardy. They will record the tardy as part of the attendance record, and excessive tardies will result in disciplinary action and may eventually cause loss of credit for the class. The Student Handbook on page 7 details the tardy policy...please look at that section closely. Students need to be very honest with teachers about this issue...if going from the gym to an upper corner room is a real problem, both sending and receiving teachers need to know. They cannot read minds. Of course, if doing a locker stop or chatting with friends is the issue, the student needs to take control and act responsibly.
Some would argue "better late than never" and I would agree, with consideration for the disruption any student arriving late has to cause. An absentee may ask for make up the next day, but a late student forces the teacher to stop what she/he is doing at that moment (or try to do two things at once,) ask the reason, adjust the attendance roll, possibly assign the detention and/or write a referral all while the rest of class "patiently" waits for the lesson to continue. Having repeated something for the third time to cover two late students doesn't make any class "more exciting" to be in. Better late than never, but best is on time.
The trait of punctuality facilitates the learning of all students, which is our reason for being in school in the first place. Help us reach our goals of accelerating the learning of all students by pushing for punctuality.
