A Tardy is a given consequence for showing up late to class. We all know what a Tardy is, we all know what it means, yet some of us still show up to class late. It is a consequence best avoided but not as severe as an unexcused absence.
If you usually show up a little late to class or even occasionally, you should start to think about the tardies you are accumulating, because if you have ten tardies or more, you are eligible and required to be summoned for one hour of detention.
Ten tardies in one semester may seem like a lot, but there are around three hundred and thirty-five students who fall into this category. To fully understand this new policy, what is better than talking to Dr. Erika James-Bouwmeester, who decided to implement the policy, and the Student Dean of Boulder High School.
Why would having ten tardies constitute such a punishment? As Dr. James-Bouwmeester put it, it’s about “giving back that class time… so if students are going to show up late, [it is about] giving back the class time they missed”. Ten tardies of around five minutes added up, will be one period, making one period of detention make sense. According to Dr. James-Bouwmeester “Typically when students start missing portions of the class… It does have an impact on what you learned and results in the grades you have”. This punishment is meant to not only serve as a discouragement to frequent tardiness but also to make up for missed class time.
So far students have been very understanding of the consequences, some weren’t even aware that they had accrued so many tardies. Lots of students have sports, activities, clubs, jobs, and other extracurriculars, which leaves little time for detention. To help alleviate student schedules Dr.James-Bouwmeester would “try to still work with their lives, but also implement the policy we have in place”. Due to this flexibility, students can come in during lunch, after school, or whenever they can. The only requirement is that they have to be working on classwork or homework, and it can’t be during school time, so you can’t do this during advisory or a class period.
This policy is nothing new and is pretty reasonable for students. The minutes of detention are comparable to the minutes of class time lost to tardiness, students have the flexibility to plan out their detention and can use the time to focus on class work and to be better prepared.
