Teachers: I teach at a high school and we have a tardy policy that needs revision. Could any of you share what is working positively at your school. Email me at knetteee@aol.com Thanks
tardiness problem We have a great deterrent to tardiness. We have “hall sweeps.” A minute before the bell rings every period an assistant principal announces over the p. a. that students have a minute to get to class. Security guards and other assistant principals and teachers start yelling “hall sweep” and blowing whistles. Some do a 10-second countdown while the kids rush madly to class. Teachers are not allowed to let any tardy students into their classes. They get swept into the cafeteria for that period and it counts as an unexcused absence. It sounds harsh, but actually, it’s pretty funny to watch and the kids have fun with it. The principal is adamant about this and he is often involved. It works. Yes, some kids do try to get picked up on purpose, but then they face getting a No Credit for that course at the end of the year for 10 or more unexcused absences. This takes work and manpower and tremendous dedication.
We had a similar system when I was in high school, it was called "lock out" because in theory, you were locked out of class. (Of course they couldn't really lock the doors). Anyone who was tardy went to a specific room for lock out, and they sat there and stared at the walls for that period. They were NOT allowed to sleep/study/talk/eat/etc. This was also counted on report cards.
We use trash detail. If you miss the bell you are collected for trash detail after brunch and lunch. After four tardies the kids are assigned a Saturday school. It generally only takes one trip to either place for the tardies to stop.
Our h.s. kids get a pink slip for being tardy, not turning in homework (depends on teacher), and behavior problems. After 5 pink slips the student gets ISS. It usually straightens them up if they get that far. They started it 6 years ago when I was a h.s. senior. Since then tardy % has gone down.
When I was a freshman in high school, my biology teacher had a policy that I thought was pretty good... Beginning of the year, we got 4 "red passes." Red passes were good for 5 minutes out of class, no questions asked. We could use them for going back to our locker, bathroom, being tardy, whatever. (Just put your pass on the overhead, and return in 5 minutes... or turn one in when you arrived late.) Once they were gone, we didn't get any more, so tardies would affect our grade. They could be saved up and all used at once, or used one at a time... and we were given 4 more at the beginning of 2nd semester, and they stacked... I really don't remember too many kids coming in late to class, because they *knew* it would cost them a pass. Another thing that happened at one of my high schools (I moved as a sophomore!) was music in the hallways... they played music during passing periods, and the music ended one or two minutes before the bell would ring. This made sure you knew how long you had to get to class... seemed to help, and it was always fun to see what genre of music they'd pick each week (popular music, college fight songs, patriotic music, music from our marching band's CD's, classical, Beach Boys, oldies ... was always varied!) My other HS had 6-minute passing periods, and would ring the first bell after 5... this was a bit more confusing (was that the 1st or 2nd bell?), but it helped... again, it made sure you knew you only had 1 more minute to get there.
When I long-term subbed for 8th grade the school used three tardies got you a during lunch or after school detention. I tweaked it a little when I got there b/c I was a sub and they always tried getting away with things. I made the student stay after the bell one minute for the first tardy and two minutes for the second and third tardies. And of course for the third tardy they also earned a detention. It was important to keep track of the tardiness, and also that they couldn't talk or do anything during their time after class they could only sit and do their time.
The office takes care of tardies-- for every three tardies a student gets detention-- the first is just a 40 minute detention, after that I believe they get more than one detention for every 3 tardies. The office-assigned detentions are monitored by teachers on a rotational basis daily from 3:20 (after school) until 4 pm.
At my school, we have a warning bell. Kids have 7 minutes in between classes to go to their lockers and get to class. The first bells rings when class ends and then it rings a warning when you have two minutes to get to class. Then the late bell rings and class begins. Pretty simple. If a student is late the first time, nothing happens. If the student is late a second time, the teacher speaks to him/her. If the student is late a third time, it's an automatic detention. And if the student is late five-seven times he/she is dropped from the class.
What is nice about my school's policy (see first response thread) is that teachers don't have to interrupt their lessons for any reason. We just close the door and we don't let the students in. We don't have to stop and deal with tardy kids or keep track of them. The kids are rounded up to the cafeteria which is manned by a teacher, the Hall Sweep Monitor. She has a laptop and she must access the electronic gradebook system from there. The tardy kid misses the class and later in the day, the notation "HS" for Hall Sweep appears on that day's attendance space for that student. This takes it completely out of the teachers' hands and saves us time that must be spent on instruction. Our principal's motto was "Not a Moment Lost" and he took us from being a "D" grade school 5 years in a row to being a "B" according to our state ranking system. Of course, he's leaving this year because he was just too good to be at our school forever.
Hello, my name is Chuck and I teach in Long Beach, CA (LBUSD). We have a program in use by many of our schools called "Start on Time" and it really works. I teach at a middle school of 1400 students and our tardies went from 100+ a day to 15-20 per day avg. You can access the LBUSD website to find link. This is how it works: Every passing period ends with a tardy sweep. When the bell rings, the doors are closed and all tardy students are stuck in the hall momentarily. Teachers on their conference period take the students info and put it on a form/postcard. The student is escorted to class and the students name and grade are verified. The postcard is given to the appropriate learning director who fills out the address on the postcard and mails it to the parents. The student receives a lunch detention. Chronic offenders receive higher consequences. The system is foolproof if all teachers participate and at my school this is non negotiable. It is a major hassle at first but after a few days you rarely need to fill out a tardy card. Let me know what you think.
Our principal makes tardies the teachers problem. "If the student is not in class on time, there must be something with your class to not encourage them to be there on time." Obviously this goes over well with the faculty. We have a HUGE problem with tardies...........various teachers have various methods of dealing with the problem. Some offer extra credit quizzes as soon as the tardy bell rings and ONLY those in the room when the bell rings can get those points. Some make tardies stay after class which only serves to make them late to the next class. In WV we can't have saturday school nor after school detention. Too much of a lawsuit issue with transportation. I would LOVE to have Saturday school - I would even put my name in willingly to rotate babysitting it.
I worked for a principal like this one year. I sometimes wonder if the cost to become an adminstrator is 30 IQ points. Ed