Schoolwide tardies have increased 22% since 2022. School policy enforces no definitive consequences for tardies, leaving it up to teachers to execute disciplinary action and incentivize students to arrive on time.
M-A’s student handbook states that teachers are responsible for establishing rules for tardiness in their classes. If a student is late four or more times in a quarter, teachers are permitted to assign detention. Although M-A’s flexible policy offers autonomy to teachers, its lack of centralization makes it challenging for staff to effectively manage tardiness.
One of M-A’s few existing systems is an automated call sent out to parents when their child is tardy. Without concrete consequences, its effects are limited.
“It kind of works,” economics teacher Jack Neumeier said. “But, for the people who are chronically late, I don’t think those calls are making a difference.”
This lack of rigidity is frustrating for many teachers because it makes them responsible for tracking student tardies and administering punishments. “[Enforcing penalties is] a lot of work for a teacher to have to do. I would be writing detentions every day,” science teacher Nancy Day said.
If students do not show up to detention, the only consequence is being prohibited from school dances.
Being tardy is not only disruptive but it can also negatively impact academic performance. “It’s the habit of not taking class seriously. You feel like you can show up late and everyone else has to show up on time,” Neumeier said.
Implementing a stricter school-wide policy could be a logistical challenge. It would require longer hours and weekend work from staff to oversee detention or Saturday school, M-A teacher and Sequoia Aspirations Advocacy Program (SAAP) director Jenna Carson said.
Hall sweeps demonstrate this principle: while effective, they’re taxing on both administration and campus aides. “When we have a hall sweep, other things have to stop. The campus aides have to go around, take names, and message them to the secretaries. The secretaries have to record them, assign them detentions,” Carson explained. “That’s why we can’t do it every single period.”
M-A’s current attendance record system on Infinite Campus also makes enforcing consequences difficult. “One of the flaws of Infinite Campus is that it does not automatically generate data,” Carson said. This makes it hard to automatically assign detentions as teachers have to individually look up students.
M-A’s current decentralized practice allows teachers to tailor their tardy policies, which range from no punishment to deducting points.
“I don’t mark my students tardy if I see them hustling,” Day, who deducts points for tardiness, said.
Others, like English teacher Lara Gill, don’t punish late students. “Generally speaking, I don’t think that there’s a big issue with tardies in my classes,” she said.
Freshmen in particular have experienced the greatest increase in tardiness at 57% over the last two years, according Infinite Campus data. Although the causes are unclear, teachers speculate that it may be in part due to COVID.
“I think it’s bigger than the school. It’s very much societal,” Gill said. “We’re still experiencing the aftermath of COVID. We expect less from students in general.”
“Math teachers are like, ‘Oh my God. [Freshmen] don’t understand ratios. They don’t understand fifth grade.’ Those are critical years, and it’s only going to become more critical, when current students are younger and younger when COVID happened,” Gill added.
“The expectation for teachers is that we will make up for students,” Neumeier said. “Compared to when I was a student, there’s less of an emphasis on the burden of responsibility being on the student versus the teacher.”
“Because I know a couple of people are going to be late, I plan my first five minutes for freshmen very differently than with my seniors,” Neumeier added.
“We’re trying to establish habits, and it is important to encourage freshmen to realize the importance of being on time. This is like their first job. You don’t want to be late to your job, because that’s just not professional,” Neumeier said.
“Tardies are directly related to the urgency that teachers and the administrators put on punctuality,” Carson said.
But even though administration and teachers offer support to students, being on time is a student’s responsibility as well. “We should get to class on time. It makes for more learning, happier teachers, and that should be reason enough,” Carson said.
