Admin & Students View Tardy Policy Differently
Hillside High School has implemented a new tardy policy for the 2018-2019 school year. Assistant Principal Ms. Austin said, "In the five years I have worked at Hillside, there has never officially been a tardy policy for Hillside." There may have been one before she started working here, but she was not sure as to when. According to Ms. Austin, last school year, teachers raised concerns over the large number of students missing after the bell rang. "This is mostly attributed to the fact that students tend to linger in the hall," and have little desire to get to class.
Over the course of last year, and this year, the administration created the new tardy policy for the school.
If you get 3 tardies in a class, you will get a call home. Next, if you get 5 tardies, be prepared to stay after school. Finally, if you get 10 tardies in a class, you will be spending your Saturday in detention.
Since school has started this year, Ms. Austin has noted that there has been great improvement in students' attendance. After the large numbers of students lingering in the halls last year, "This year we have not really seen that," Ms. Austin said.
Another Hornet who feels this new system will be effective is Mr. Knight, who deals with tardies. He says, "We want to work to narrow down the amount of tardies and this new policy will bring vast change."
After getting the input of administrators, we found that the students' views toward the policy are not the same. Some students, who prefer to remain anonymous, have all said similar things. They feel it does no good and hurts those who have other problems that cause them to be late.
However, one student told us, "If you do not want to suffer the punishments of the new tardy policy, then get to class on time, instead of messing around."
We can't control all of the situations that happen to us, but missing school is a serious issue and could land your parents or guardians up to 120 days in jail. This is called truancy, and such mistakes can really hurt students and parents. Next time you decide to do something that could make you tardy, just think about the consequences.
