Weddington High has a new tardy policy for the 2023-2024 school year with additional rules and regulations due to an increased number of tardies during the previous school year. After recognizing the problem, Dr. Krafston went to the Weddington High administrative team in search of a solution, and they believe they have one.
For comparison, the administrators first looked over the tardy policies of other schools. They devised a policy that they believed would be most effective for this high school. Also, the administrators and instructors made additional revisions to develop the new tardiness policy.
AP, Mr. Grexa, a major contributor to the new policy, said, “We came up with a new tardy policy because last year we noticed a lot of students were coming in late, really late. Tardies were unbelievable! They would come in and teachers would complain about them being disruptive.” He continued, “I think there’s a couple reasons: if a teacher starts teaching and somebody comes in late it disrupts the flow of the class. The other thing is students miss important information; if you come in 15 minutes late you’ll miss something important”
The revised WHS handbook states that for every block and lunch, students must be in class by the time the bell rings. Students who come into class more than 15 minutes late without a late pass are to be marked absent. The first tardy results in a teacher warning. The second results in notifying a parent/guardian. The third results in a phone call to parents and two days of after school suspension. The handbook lists the consequences for up to the 15 tardy which results in three days of ISS and even the loss of your parking privileges.
How do the students feel about this? Sanika Patil, a Sophomore at Weddington commented, “I’ve never been tardy before but one of my friends rides a late bus all the time and I think she has 8 or 9 tardies right now. She almost had to take the final exam because of that. So, I don’t think it’s very fair,” Another Weddington high schooler argued differently, “ Although I don’t agree with how strict it is, tardy policies are important because they keep us on track.”
