Somewhere in the middle of the student handbook that everyone “read,” there is a somewhat vague explanation of the basic tardy policy. The general idea is that a student receiving 4 tardies within a period of 9 weeks will be assigned to Friday Night School.
However, there are many students who come to classes late with no consequence. One reason for this may be that the teacher does not bother counting them tardy, as many teachers are somewhat relaxed about being in class on time.
“I catch all tardies up to ten a.m. by them signing in,” Attendance Clerk Judy Hise said. “But if the teachers don’t record it after that then I won’t know about it, and if they record it then I transfer that onto the principals.”
Still, some students are seeing tardies in PowerSchool and have yet to be notified about any possible repercussions.
“I have ten tardies in one class and no one has told me to go to Friday Night School,” an anonymous student said. “I thought it might be because I have good grades, so they just don’t care as much.”
Hise disputes this theory.
“Good grades don’t have anything to do with Friday Night School,” Hise said. “It has to do with the amount of tardies and the amount of absences.”
However, some principals have a different approach.
“Mrs. Hise just goes through and does a query each week, and it tells who has four tardies and so then I prioritize based on other criteria,” Associate Principal Teresa Dodson said. “If you have four tardies spread out across the day, I put you at the bottom of my list. If you have four tardies in the same class, you move up a little bit higher. If you have four tardies in a class and you’re not passing that class, you move up.”
Dodson also takes into account any Academic Recovery assignments a student might have.
“If someone has four tardies and didn’t go to an AR, they jump all the way to the top, so those people who are sliding by, they’re sliding by because they’re taking care of other things,” Dodson said.
However, this does not mean that good grades ensure an evasion of consequences.
“I get through everyone, I just get to some people later than others,” Dodson said. “If someone should be getting Friday Night School, they will probably get Friday Night School eventually, it just might take a while.”
