New push for stricter tardy policy generated positive results

“No Tardy November” was a reminder to students that students who choose not to attend class run the risk of being sent home if they refuse to attend class or cooperate with staff members,” says Dr. Edward Bennett, the principal of Central. He and the other administration instituted No-Tardy November to reduce tardies and truancies, especially because they had an influx of tardies in the month of October. They plan to continue with this policy, and give it a new name each month.

“Academics are number one for Central… being on time is a life skill… and it is fair,” Bennett said, explaining the reasons why Central requires prompt attendance. Central is not alone in its struggle with tardiness and truancies; different schools across America have tried multiple ways to have students be on time. At some schools, the doors lock 30 minutes after school and late students are required to go home. Others encourage teachers to give warm-ups that ultimately lead to a summative grade. Central has decided to go with the system of random selection; called Tardy Roulette last year and Tardy Sweepstakes this year. This system randomly selects students that were tardy from a period each day to have an after-school detention.

No-Tardy November came about because, in the month of October, Bennett says “Tardies were higher than normal…and we wanted to hold students accountable”. Along with the same Tardy Sweepstakes policy, they have also have increased the need for hallway passes, as walking around without a pass can result in being sent home. Bennett says that “school safety is incredibly important,” and that by checking the halls, it keeps students and staff safer.

The OPS district has also noticed the security issue for students and other people being able to come and go. Due to this risk, they plan to install a new system in all the schools that will be electrically and magnetically sealed next year. This will cause the doors to beep whenever opened and security to know which doors are being opened and where.

Despite rumors going around, No-Tardy November was very effective. Looking at the numbers from October to November, tardies were down 39 percent. Since it worked to show students, “the importance of getting class to time,” said Bennett, administration plans to keep the theme going. “I believe students who are tardy don’t like it while people who are not tardy like it. It’s only fair,” Bennett said. This December, they have dubbed it “Check the Halls December,” and we will take suggestions for each month’s new name. “It is possible that tardies and skipping will go up after November, but I think that we just have to be creative,” Bennett said.

All in all, Bennett believes No-Tardy November was a success, will continue, and will have a different name each month.