Lowellvillle is a school that values good attendance from their students. With that being said, the school’s tardy policy has been difficult to understand for both students and staff. Recently many students have been trying to understand what is considered a tardy versus what is considered a partial absence. This concept becomes more difficult to understand because some students have been given tardies, but those tardies are marked as a partial absence in Progressbook.
The tardy policy listed in the student handbook seems to be different from the action currently being enforced. According to the Student Handbook, “The school day begins at 7:40 AM. A student is considered tardy if they are not in their assigned classroom when the bell rings. Arriving more than 10 minutes late will be considered an unexcused absence unless a valid excuse is provided.” (Page 19). The Handbook also states that the consequence for receiving four tardies is a one-hour detention, however students that have recently received detentions due to tardiness only had to serve 30 minutes. This may not seem like a big difference, but it is important to remember that some students need rides home from their parents or guardians, so it is important that we have solid rules that every member of our school is aware of.
Makenna Beeson, a senior at Lowellville was affected by this confusion when she received her first detention ever due to her tardies. Makenna thought that she would only receive a tardy if she was late to homeroom, as the handbook stated, so she was very confused when she came to school at the end of first period and received her fourth tardy, because she thought it would be marked as a partial absence. When she checked her Progressbook, Makenna only had two recorded tardies, and the rest were partial absences. Makenna spoke to our principal, Mrs. Parry about why she received a detention, and Mrs. Parry agreed that she should not be considered tardy and canceled the detention. After this interaction, Mr. Grow, who handles tracking students’ tardiness, was informed that partial absences are no longer considered tardies. But, this still poses the question, what is considered tardy, and what is considered a partial absence?
Makenna is not the only student who has been affected by this policy. Daniel Huff, a freshman, shared that he has received many detentions due to tardiness. Daniel agreed with Makenna, thinking that tardies were only given out during homeroom. It seems that no students understand what the official rule is.
Mr. Grow is in charge of tracking the number of tardies that each student has, but the official rule was confusing to him as well. Every morning, the front office sends him a list around 8:00 am letting him know which students were marked tardy. He then marks a google sheet which tracks the number of tardies for each student, which resets every nine weeks. After that, he sends messages to parents if necessary or hands out detentions to any student that has gotten up to four tardies. “The goal of the policy was to improve attendance,” he says. “Maybe the time for tardies should be extended. Students are missing instruction time waiting for it to be considered a partial absence, rather than coming in as soon as possible.” Mr. Grow understands the confusion with the rule, but he doesn’t feel that students receiving detentions for tardies is a bad thing, “It will teach them life lessons that will better them in the future.”
Mrs. Parry was able to clear up the confusion with the policy. She confirmed that the rule stated in the handbook is correct, however the detentions should only be 30 minutes long, not an hour. She explained that tracking tardies is more difficult now because attendance is tracked by the hour. This makes it harder for the system to understand what is a tardy and what is a partial absence. She plans to update the policy or the language of the policy in next year’s handbook to communicate it better to students and staff. “We’re hoping to think of a more creative way to encourage students to be here on time.”
So, as of right now students should follow the policy listed in the school handbook. Hopefully confusion with the rules are cleared up amongst students and staff, and our school’s attendance improves as a result.
