Today, the school administration implemented the “New Albany High School Tardy Policy.”
On Monday, school officials handed out the the new policy to students coming in late. It reads: “Beginning Wed. Jan. 25, all students who are tardy to any class must first go to the Attendance Office, sign in, and get a blue pass before entering any class. Teachers will no longer allow students to enter a class without a blue Attendance Office pass, whether excused or unexcused.”
“Tardiness has actually been a problem for me this year,” said social studies teacher Kevin James.
According to the administration, teachers have been expressing an increased concern regarding tardiness and how it is a significant disturbance in class both for teachers and those students who are on-time and trying to learn.
Today, some 180 students stood in a line in front of the Attendance Office waiting for their pass if they arrived after the second morning bell. The students included both those who did not step into their specific class before the bell and were sent down by their teachers and those who were stopped by the administration at the school entrances.
Many students were upset with this new procedure. “It’s not going to last. This is a ridiculous waste of time,” said one student who showed up one minute late yet returned to his class 15 minutes later due to the long line at the Attendance Office.
Vice-principal Susan Charlip put it simply, “Don’t be tardy, it’s not that complicated.”
Similar views have been expressed by other school officials who simply ask students to leave a little earlier and show up on time so there won’t be any unnecessary disturbances in the classroom.
This morning there were more than 180 students who showed up late to class and were forced to go to the Attendance Office. According to the administration, first and second periods are the most troublesome, as well as those immediately after lunch.
Principal Ted Barone explained, “The AHS faculty made it a priority to resolve the problem. And it is not a new policy, but rather a new procedure to have better accounting [of tardies].”
School administrators hope that the number of tardies will be reduced in the coming days.
If the administration was concerned with addressing tardiness, rather than making an example of tardy students, they would not replace the current system with a new system that actually increases lateness / time out of class.
The new policy simply enunciates that the current administration is not interested in a creative solution, but rather showy policies that make administrators look tough.
That’s sad.
I wonder what the correlation between policies like this, which effectively infantilize students, and the dropout rate is? I would imagine there is a correlation. Shame on the administration for not investigating this first.