Every morning there are students who are just a few seconds or minutes late to school and instead of being able to quickly run to class, they have to stand in the tedious and long tardy table line.

The tardy table was implemented as a way to make sure that kids who are late to school get consequences for their lateness, even if it’s 20 seconds after the bell.  This line can take up to 20 minutes while you’re waiting to get your pass to class or receive your 30 minute after school detention.  Not only do you feel like you’re wasting your time or being penalized even if you tried your best to get here, you’re also missing class time.

I understand that when people are late to school there needs to be some sort of cut-off time for being late but when a student reaches the tardy table with a note from a parent or a valid excuse other than being sick, they shouldn’t have to suffer a consequence that doesn’t match the infraction.

To me, it’s very frustrating when you try you constantly try to get to school on time and you just barely make it and get a penalty for something that you couldn’t really control.

Some students may have a bad morning and a number of events that are invalid excuses for being late.  I think that if a parent comes and signs off on it or brings a note it should be excused otherwise even the best students who don’t intentionally try to be late get consequences for things that they can’t always control.

Detention is not a good consequence for being slightly late for school because it isn’t going to prevent morning incidents or just problems that students can’t control.  It honestly does nothing.  I know that when I’m late for school, I’m always trying my best to get there on time and a detention isn’t going to prevent me from coming late to school a few times.

The process of giving consequences doesn’t seem to be very organized either.  A few students have admitted that they have been late several times but have avoided their punishments.

Though going to the tardy table and eventually getting a detention for being late is very inconvenient to many, it seems to be a good system for administration.

Administration hasn’t really changed much about the tardy table despite the many complaints from students who just struggle occasionally to get to school on time.

But since they are going to continue using the tardy table as a way to catch latecomers, they should try to make it more organized by adding more administrators or teachers to make the line quicker.  They should also try to push to make other excuses valid.