Leadership Students are Baffled by the New School-Wide Late Policy

On November 6th, a message from the Dean’s Office was posted on the school’s Instagram, stating that students who were late to their 1st or 6th-period classes would have to serve detention or lose lunch privileges. Ms. Ramos, an English teacher and head dean, explained the thought process behind administering the late policy. “It was an ongoing issue hindering students from succeeding academically,” Ramos said. “It is imperative that students are in class on time to learn and hone skills they need.”.

Since then, students have taken the initiative to come to school on time. Our earth science teacher Ms. Mente revealed that lateness affects the entire classroom dynamic. “Students are at a loss of what to do,” Mente described, resulting in work being turned in late and, overall, a lower grade. Since the late policy was announced, Mente claims that she saw a behavior change – “students come in earlier due to the possibility of consequences.”

Lead News distributed a survey to students regarding the late policy on February 9th, and the results varied. According to the survey, nearly 70% of students who responded are late at least once a week. Additionally, 38.5% of the students dislike the late policy, while it’s an even split between the other two options — 30.8% understand the policy reasoning, and 30.8% are not affected by it. The dean’s office recently expressed that the policy is not consistently applied in classrooms. However, studies show that punctuality is a vital part of academic success. A study done in urban high school in Georgia by South Carolina State University showed a negative correlation between the amount of lateness and test scores — in other words, when a student was late more often, their test scores were lower.

Research has proven that tardiness leads to consistent underachievement in academics. The Leadership community is aware that this is an area of growth, and our students and teachers must be engaged in improving the school culture.