![Benjamin Williams and Reese Sherman, social studies teachers, explain department information a guest. "This [open house] was, for me, a great opportunity to meet family in the district that will soon be attending the high school," Williams said.](https://www.utimesonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/DSC_9117-1200x800.jpg)
About 75 students roll in late to school every day. Over the years, the rate has basically remained the same.
“There are the same amount of late students as last year,” said Ms. Nichols of the attendance office. “Generally the same students are late each day.”
Tardiness is a recurring problem at U. City. Students oversleep then rush out of the house, just barely making it by 7:26 a.m. When they finally arrive at the school late, in order to enter the building they must wait in a long line to have their name typed into a computer and receive a green pass. The process is rather long and usually causes a person to become five more minutes late than they originally were. After three unexcused tardies, the student’s grade level principal is notified and eventually they are given in-school suspension (ISS).
“Every morning I have to rush out of the house to make it to school on time,” said Dajah Carter, junior. “I forget things like homework and my ID and I’m usually exhausted. I don’t even get a chance to eat breakfast.”
Apparently, ISS is not a very effective approach at raising the school’s attendance rate but perhaps the problem could be partially solved if school began at 8:00 a.m. That extra time in the morning would give students more time to sleep, which could possibly keep more students awake in class and more focused.
ISS Administrator Ms. Coby disagrees with the statement that ISS is ineffective. She thinks that ISS helps to decrease many of the of tardies.
“Most of the tardy students don’t want to be in ISS and are trying to find ways to avoid being late and given ISS,” said Coby. “They are trying to set their alarms, wake up earlier and catch their bus.”
Junior grade level principal Ms. Hill also has seen an improvement in attendance. She said that there have been less tardies since two years ago. Two years ago, if a student was late to school they would get after school detention and if they didn’t go, they would receive Saturday school. If a student didn’t attend Saturday school, they would be given out of school suspension.
“We’ve seen a dramatic improvement in attendance in the last two years,” said Hill. “There has been way less tardies and more people showing up on time.”
