Change to Tardy Policy to Solve Lateness

After tardies remained a continuous problem, the staff of Lamar High School decided to put tardy policies through changes in an attempt to decrease the overwhelming lateness.

The changes may not seem to be improving anything, but the people in administration have already seen a reduction in tardies. Administration has already seen an improvement in the first semester due to a new policy being established. The rule was that students will receive an automatic referral if they are late to their third or fourth period, and there has already been a reduction in tardies.

“By the lunch period, students should already be on campus so transportation issues that may be outside of a students control, are no longer an issue.” Assistant Principal Carolyn Longoria said “We did see tardies reduce by about twenty-five percent the first semester as a result of this policy.”

There used to be a policy where tardies would count towards final exam exemption, but tardies can no longer do that. The Arlington Independent School District took away the ability for schools to enable that policy.

“We too recognize the incentive this could provide for students to be in class on time and have communicated that with our friends at the district level. For now, however, tardies are not included toward final exam exemptions. I would say, that excessive tardies or skipping part of the lunch time class, could result in alternative placement like OCS/ISS, or Choices which would negate an exemption.” Longoria said.

Hopefully with the implementation, the situation will only further improve as time goes on and lead to a brighter, better future at Lamar.