Apparently, lots of students accumulate tardies in the mornings and all day before each class.
Why there are so many tardies is a mystery.
Each morning, the principal calls to the office a list of students with an abundance of tardies. Many of those students end up in ISS, or worse, suspended.
Students get one day of ISS for six tardies. After the tenth tardy, the student gets one of out of school suspension.
The mystery is why students continue with tardies when they know the consequences.
“I come in late because I need to talk to people before class, and I don’t miss anything in the first ten minutes of class,” McKynzie Bateman, sophomore, said.
“I come in late because I don’t really care about school,” Summer Isley, sophomore, said.
“I come in late because I have more important things to do than go to class,” Morgan Shotwell, sophomore, said.
Students seem to put other tasks ahead of learning during class or just don’t take school seriously at all.
Tardy behavior is important.
Athlos Academy of Utah, “Attendance Matters: The Impact of Tardiness on Student Success, “states that students who arrive late or leave early miss out on many key learning points. It also states that chronically tardy students are more likely to accept that absence altogether is tolerated, often leading to “chronic absenteeism” which can cause others around them to act poorly.