Dear Dr. Zirpoli,

One of the things that I take pride in is maintaining a clear record throughout my high school career. However, the current tardy policy puts that record at risk in ways that are often beyond a student’s control. Every 3 tardies becomes an absence, and repeated tardies result in detention. Being late is already stressful, but the added fear of punishment creates unnecessary pressure on students.

One of the biggest factors is the traffic to get to school in the morning. There are around 1,000 students that attend NPHS, and all of them need to get here somehow. Students (including myself) have to leave at 7:15 in the morning, just to barely make it through the doors on time. Likewise, all of the teachers have to get to the school early as well, so they are mixed in with the students. The school line in the morning can take up to 30 minutes, even when you manage to leave your house on time. There is enough stress with homework, sports, and societal pressures, that we don’t need more just because we got to school 1 minute past the bell.

Additionally, the idea that tardy students disrupt the classroom environment is an overstatement. When a student walks in late, people look for about 5 seconds, then go back to their work. This is mostly because it’s not a big deal, and it’s not their business why people are late. We are busy getting our work done, or listening to instructions from the teacher to care if someone walks in late. Therefore, punishing tardiness on the idea of classroom disruption is not accurate to most situations.

Likewise, a detention goes on your permanent record. This can cause anxiety when applying to colleges. It also does not specify what it is for, so it can lead for misinterpretation for the college administrators. A lot of students, like myself, have worked hard to maintain the record, so receiving a detention for something as minor as a few tardies isn’t viable.

Furthermore, a detention is not going to fix anything if the cause of being late is family troubles. It’s a sad reality, but it happens, even in New Providence. There could be things going on at home that the students have no control over and because of that, they really can’t get to school on time. These factors can be completely outside the student’s control, and punishment does not solve the problem. In fact, it could make it worse.

Lastly, not every teacher enforces tardiness the same way. Some teachers are a lot more lenient than others. There are teachers in the school that will make you walk back to the office for a late pass if you arrive at the school at 7:46 instead of 7:44. This causes the students to miss even more class time because they had to walk all the way to the office, get the pass, and walk all the way back.

In conclusion, the tardy policy should be revised to better reflect some of the realities that we face. Allowing for more flexibility could create a system that is more fair.

Sincerely,

Stella Mascarina

Resources:

Dratch, Jeffery. “Tardy policies created unfair expectations for students”. The Harbinger, 16 February, 2023

McGarry, Patrick. “Tardy Policy Negatively Affects Students”. The Wachusett Echo, 20 March, 2023