The tardy policy at CHS, implemented during the 2008-2009 school year, is designed to pressure students to attend every class and to arrive on time, by assigning after school and in school detentions as consequences for  unexcused absences or repeated tardiness. Though created with good intentions, this policy is constantly violated through deception of students and teachers. Abuse of the system results in inconsistency in execution of discipline.
Those who know how to trick the system, and whose parents are willing to cooperate, are able to avoid school-administered punishment entirely.
In an attempt to limit ridiculous excuses for missing class, the school outlined eight acceptable reasons for an excused absence. If every Clayton parent were completely honest, this method of limitation would successfully keep students from skipping class. Unfortunately, many parents are more than willing to call into the attendance office within the allotted 24 hour period, and report that their poor son or daughter “had a headache” during sixth period, and therefore was unfortunately unable to attend. Thus the unexcused absence and forthcoming detention disappear.
And if it’s that easy to trick the system, then why not? Maybe the student is involved in sports or music, and a detention after school would completely interrupt a carefully planned schedule. Maybe the student skipped class because they didn’t feel ready for the quiz that day. A grade-emphasizing parent wouldn’t want their kid to take the zero on the test as well as serve a detention. So the parent calls in and fixes the dilemma.
Still other students are able to convince their authorities that the absence marked was a mistake. Charm and feigned innocence result in fewer detentions.
Others, the majority of CHS students, don’t have parents who are willing to excuse a skipped class or aren’t able to talk their way out of anything. Therefore, an inconsistency occurs as the rules apply to some and not others.
The one time I fall asleep on my books and forget to set my alarm, I sleep in and miss my zero hour and serve a detention. My friend skips an entire day of classes and somehow six unexcused absences equates to one detention.
I, being one of those unlucky ones whose parents refuse to fib for my benefit, serve a detention for my zero-hour absence while a fellow classmate of mine is constantly excused for his skipped classes. So while he is able to take an extra lunch hour or finish preparing for his test without penalty, I am penalized for accidentally sleeping in.
As with any other rule, individuals will enforce it in various ways. Some teachers strictly adhere to school policy while others are more lax with counting tardies and taking the trouble to assign detentions after the third offense. Yet others provide their own classroom policies, such as physics teacher Rex Rice.
In either Rice’s Honors Freshman Physics or AP Physics class one must fill out a tardy form giving the reason for tardiness, and each subsequent tardy after the first offense must be made up by arranging a 30-minute period of the student’s free time to complete a task for Rice, such as cleaning lab equipment. Instead of requiring students to waste time in detention, Rice motivates students to take responsibility for their tardiness by rewarding students with “made up” tardies and no unexcused absences with the benefits of being a student in “good standing.”
I commend teachers such as Rice who create a classroom-specific tardy policy because a student is more motivated to respect the authority of an individual, especially a teacher who assigns grades, than the authority of the administration.
We are constantly reminded that our safe haven, CHS, the Clayton bubble, is nothing like the “real world,” when in fact our tardy policy is an overemphasized version of the work force. Yes, employers penalize employees for late arrival and skipped days of work, but most CHS students are not presently preparing to graduate and become a member of the work force. Regardless, by the time one secures a meaningful job, attendance and tardiness is a lot more significant to oneself and one’s employer than it is currently at CHS.
Because the large majority of CHS students head to college after graduation, it would benefit students to prepare for college life rather than the life of a working adult. Our classes are college prepatory and challenging, especially for seniors taking numerous AP courses, and those making an effort at CHS must learn to manage time.
By senior year if one has still not acquired time management skills, that student has made a conscious effort not to try. CHS does a good job of forcing more independence on its students with each passing year, and upperclassmen are well aware of the repercussions of their actions.
Miss class for any reason, and you fall behind. Arrive tardy, you may miss a quiz or assignment given in the first few minutes of class. We can comprehend the consequences of our actions without a slap on the wrist from the administration.
In college, one has the choice to attend class; the administration has no interference if grades are kept up. If we were really preparing for college, seniors in AP courses (college level classes) would not be babied by the administration and penalized for minor misconduct.
On the other hand, students are expected, as they should be, to respect authority, especially that of teachers devoted to their education. That being said, any student with behavioral problems, including repeated offenses concerning tardies and absence, should be dealt with individually. As is, the school policy is unable to justly deal with misbehavior in terms of class attendance.