By: Ashley Chen, Vivian Tsang
Alternatives for tardy policy consequences are being discussed by the administration, Principal Francis Rojas said. The goal is to decrease the amount of chronic tardies, he said.
The current consequences are making more paperwork instead of solving the problem, Rojas said. The administration is trying to seek out ideas that will actually help those students who are chronically tardy, he continued.
“We also know that for many of our students they do the detentions, but then for some they just skip them and next thing, you know, the detention turns into a longer one, and it’s just not working and doesn’t improve attendance,” Rojas said. “So we’re looking at not changing the actual policy of how we count the tardies but more about how what are ways that we can actually work with students to improve [on attendance].”
It is unlikely that there will be any changes added to the tardy policy this semester, Assistant Principal Jonathan Mach said. We need to meet with students to understand why they are not getting to class on time, he said.
“Instead of being punitive, we need to have more of a discussion,” Mach said. “We need to help them get to class, and get their grades up because that’s where it really needs to start from.”
Several suggestions that the administration has pitched include enforcing a one minute bell instead of two minutes and asking teachers to stand by their doors before class starts, Rojas said. The administration also wants to get a group of students together to come up with ideas as well, he added.
“Other things we’ve explored are for chronic truants, [such as] having parent meetings and having being able to meet with parents to talk about how to help your child be on time because we also know that being on time is a skill and a practice that you need in your adult life,” Rojas said. “We want to make sure we build those habits here at the high school level.”
She is strict about marking first period tardies, Science Teacher Rita Burmanroy said. Students understand that class starts at 8:00, so it’s pushing the limit to come more than 5 minutes late, Burmanroy said.
“Tardies can be rough,” Burmanroy said. “Sometimes I have really time-sensitive assignments that I do in the beginning of the period. If someone misses that, they miss something that is probably critical with what they’re going to learn or what they’re going to do on a test.”
She receives five to six tardies during first period and an average of two tardies each period throughout the day, Burmaroy explained. She does not take off points for tardies, Burmanroy said.
“It’s something I was considering last year with the amount of first period tardies I was having, ” Burmanroy said. “However, I didn’t feel the need to implement it, because [the same students] ended up not performing better on tests or higher point assignments later on.”
According to the MHS Handbook, receiving 12 tardies results in a 45 minute detention. This bar is too low, Chemistry Teacher Christopher O’Connor said.
“Personally I think maybe the detention consequences should start way ahead of 12,” O’Connor said. “That’s a lot of tardies before you see some type of consequence for that. I would start consequences a little bit earlier, maybe six. I think that’d be a lot more reasonable, and then just have better enforcement for detention.”
Although she has been tardy two to three times a week, she has not faced any consequences, Senior Jill Xia said. The administration is not aware of her circumstances that cause her to be late, she continued.
“[I am tardy] because my dad has to first drop off my little sister before I can come around towards the other side of school,” Xia said. “And I also have to walk a long distance from that as well.”
The tardy policy is enforced in her classes, Math Teacher Annie Nguyen said. Attendance is part of her students’ participation grade, so every time they are late, they lose two points off of participation, but they can make it up by doing like extra problems on the board, warmups, homework problems, she continued.
“I think the kids who are always late, it’s an external situation,” Nguyen said. “It’s not because the student on campus not wanting to go to class and dragging their foot for the most part. So if they’re late and it’s habitual, I don’t think the consequences will change them becoming on time just because they’re making it more strict.”
A suggestion she has to address chronic tardies is to have a later start time than the elementary and middle school, Nguyen said. Many of the kids that she has talked to about being late say that their parents need to drop off their siblings first, she said.
The administration has been meeting with students who are tardy, Mach said. However, it is difficult for the administration to meet with every student, because of how many students there are, he said.
“There are so many obstacles so maybe we can alleviate some of those obstacles if everybody starts to understand that it’s not just about tardies,” Mach said. “Every kid needs something different so until we can figure out something and that resources that we need to put our money into, I don’t know when we will have our tardy policy that is 100 percent effective for everybody or an intervention policy.”
Tardies do not affect his room the same way, Ceramics Teacher Jeff Albrecht said. Students who are self-motivated will be able to get to class on time, Albrecht added.
“Tardies are almost self-regulated in my class,” Albrecht said. “Because if you get here too late you don’t get a wheel.”
There should be adjustments to the tardy policy to manage excessive tardies, Albrecht said. Adjustments should be followed through carefully to ensure a difference can be made, Albrecht said.
“I feel like they definitely need to do something different about the tardy policy, not because it’s affecting my room so much, but because it sounds like they’re having a tough time managing,” Albrecht said. “If that’s the case then you do need to look at your policy and you need to make some adjustments.”
Junior Liana Feng is tardy three or four times a week usually during first period, because she wakes up late, Feng said. However, chronic tardiness may be signs of a larger problem, Feng added.
“I think [the handbook consequences] makes sense,” Feng said. “Because if you’re always late to class, then there’s a problem or something.”