Students should not be marked tardy for the first period. Class starts at 7:25, and teachers mark students tardy if they are not in class at that time. Even if it is not the student’s fault, they’ll still be marked late, which is not fair.
The punishment for being late too often is also too extreme. Five tardies equals ISS for the day, which can only cause more harm. Punishments for being late don’t teach students any lessons. If anything, students may feel that they need to skip a whole class. Students are left to choose between getting ISS and skipping classes. Both these options come with their consequences.
More often than not, being late to first period is never the students’ fault. It’s almost always uncontrollable, whether it was traffic or a ride not being able to take them that morning.
“Every morning is different,” said senior Chris Blackburn.
Some may argue that it is the student’s job to ensure dependable transportation, but some things may be out of their control.
For example, where your class is located may affect your arrival time. Say two students arrive at the same time to school. One class is on the fourth floor, the other is on the first floor down the hall. The student on the first floor will most likely arrive on time but the student going to the fourth floor will be late. Should that student be marked late for that despite it not being their fault?
This dilemma is one of many that students have argued about. Fortunately, on rainy days you aren’t marked tardy by some teachers because it is a valid excuse, but should there be more valid excuses for being late?
If students who can’t drive themselves are late to first period, they should be excused as long as they are in the building on time. An example of this would be students whose parents take them. They can’t control when their mom would want to leave the house, so it shouldn’t be marked against them if they’re late.
A grace period of 5-10 minutes after the bell rings could help students. This leeway can also help students arrive at school safely without feeling the need to rush. Most classes don’t start anything important during that time, so students don’t miss much.
Also, it can be understood that students may abuse the leeway. We can provide leeway only to students with a reasonable excuse such as entering the building late. Students who enter the building late should grab a note from the front to show proof of when they entered.
Schools should start being less strict on tardies in first period. Students don’t miss much of class in the first 5-10 minutes, therefore the punishment shouldn’t be strict. Changes should be made to the system we currently have because many students strongly believe it’s unjust.
