Students at Athens Drive High School struggled to get to class on time, and it was hard for teachers to encourage them to go to class. A new tardy policy was set to try and encourage students to get to class before the final bell rings.

The tardy policy was set before exams at the end of second quarter this school year. The hope of this new dynamic is to help students get to class in a timely manner, to decrease the amount of disruptions in the learning environment, to make sure students are prepared to learn with no distractions.

“We definitely see the halls clear a lot more than they were in the past,” said Andria Johnson, assistant principal.

When students do not get to class before the bell, they are directed to report to the tardy sweep table near the attendance office. There are teachers in that hall who have slips of paper where they write the student’s name, date, and the time they arrived. The passses also keep track of how many times the student has been late and how many times they have left until they get a consequence. The tardy sweeps give students chances to be late, but on their ninth time being tardy, they get their first consequence.

First through eighth tardy is free. When a student is tardy their ninth time they get sent to ISS for the rest of the period. Tenth tardy the student receives they get ISS for the remainder of the day, 11th is ISS for the rest of the day and the next full day. Twelfth time of a student being late they get out of school suspension.

This new system is helping some students get to class on time but some kids remain to be late and use their tardy warnings not caring about the tardy sweep. When the minute bell rings some students are running the halls to get to class on time. Other students remain walking slowly in the halls even after the late bell rings.      

“My mom thinks the new policy is unreasonable because sometimes I am just late to class over something stupid or for a reason that is out of my control,” said Lucia Bowden, sophomore.

Although this is helpful for teachers and most students, some kids think it is just causing more of a big deal than it should. Because instead of going to class a few minutes late they have to take the time to get a pass and walk to the tardy table then back to class.

“When I am late to class I have to get a pass which takes a long time. I should just be able to go to class because I end up missing like fifteen minutes versus the two minutes that I was late,” said Bowden.

The tardy sweeps reset at the quarter. So if a student is on their eighth tardy the last day of the quarter they get lucky because it resets the next day. This school year was the first time Athens Drive has tried this and so far is is starting to work and the number of late students has decreased from the beginning.

“Overall we found it to be very beneficial for us, students put forth more effort to get to class,” said Johnson.