Tardiness is the habit of arriving late to a place or meeting. When a student arrives late, it can show a lack of motivation or respect in some cases. For some time now, it has been observed that tardiness is a growing problem contributing to why students are getting lower grades than those who arrive on time.
Like you and me, students have also noticed that when you arrive late, you might also see other peers arrive late.
Mission security staff member Nikka Fa’taaui claimed that she sees 15 to 20 students arrive 30 or more minutes late daily. This was only noticed on one floor of the school.
The consequences of students getting to school late can feel unfair at times. Teachers calling parents, grades falling, and students in general frustrated and feel like they are in the wrong, which shouldn’t be the case.
When students arrive late, they might lose time to finish early assignments and work which can deduct points on their grade
Eleventh grader, Ryan Coleman, said, “My grade goes down when I get to school late and it takes a while for it to go back up.”
Eleventh grader, Amara Rackley, said,“If I’m tardy and I do the work, I can get a B minimum.”
Most students try not to arrive late to class. But not all students live so close where they can get to school any time they want. Some students can’t be driven everyday and others have to rely on transit only. We all have had one bad day where you wake up late and have to run to the bus, only to get to school late. Imagine living 30 to 40 minutes, or even an hour away from school.
Twelfth grader, Mariana Aguilar, said, “Nine out of ten times, I get to school late because I live far away.”
Recently, on March 14th, Mr. Garcia, Dean of Students, sent an email to juniors and seniors stating the number of their unexcused absences and tardies. Because of this data, the school has made the decision to put some students on a “no activities” list where they are unable to participate in prom and Mission High School activities unless said students finish a specific amount of community service hours after school.
This decision has confused and infuriated students but Mission says it’s to help you improve and return to being in good standing with the school.
Mr. Garcia claims: “We need to bring more awareness and families into the matter. It’s a big problem and we need more resources.”
