WOODBURY — Walking into school after a short summer break is the last thing you want to do at 7:25 in the morning. New rules rolling in have brought more stress buildup, and students aren’t thrilled.
With just one tardy, students have lunch detention that same day.
That raises a lot of questions: If most people disfavors it, why did the school press start on this rule so quick and fast?
Mykal Kuslis is in his second year as principal at Nonnewaug High School, and this change is one of his most significant yet.
“Attendance is obviously a really big thing for us, and actually is a really big innovation at the state level as well,” Kuslis said. “One of the things that we noticed last year is that tardies, especially towards the end of the year, really got out of control. We were looking at 25-30 kids late in a day.”
This was a big problem throughout the year for not only teachers and staff but students as well.
“This was a big problem because we really don’t have a homeroom, so it’s not like if you’re coming in five minutes late you’re missing [just] your homeroom,” Kuslis adds. “People in first period were really missing a lot of class time — there were students who got credit denied last year because they were late so many times in the first period.”
Laila Jones, a junior at Nonnewaug, has dealt with the tardy lunch detentions already, and she feels that just one strike is not fair.
“I think that it should be more against student drivers, and not students whose parents drive them since it’s not really our fault,” Jones says. “Even if the rule applies for all of us, I think it’s too intense for the first time. [The] second or third [time] it should be applied.”
Freshmen Max Dmitriyev and Michael Platt agree with Jones on giving more leeway for being tardy.
“I don’t think that should be the case,” Dmitriyev says. “I think that multiple tardies should equal a lunch detention, not just one.”
Platt agrees with Dmitriyev that it shouldn’t only be one tardy before a lunch detention.
“You should be able to get a warning,” Platt says. “Maybe at least three tardies to get lunch detention.”
Even if students aren’t thrilled, Declan Curtin, the former dean of students and now assistant principal, feels that being on time is a good habit to have.
“I think you always follow that data and what the data is telling you. The data at this point is telling us that kids are taking it seriously, and we are preparing kids for college and career readiness, and part of that process is to be on time,” Curtin says. “It’s a serious standard that we will hold kids to and one that they are reaching so far this year. We hope it continues because at the end of the day, we want everyone to be successful. When you’re in class and you’re on time, you’re communicating to us that you’re taking your job seriously, and in this case students are taking class seriously.”
From the perspective of senior students, the new rule requires some significant adjustment.
Katie Farrell, a senior, doesn’t like the new addition to the school policy because of the abrupt nature of the change from one year to the next.
“I think the new tardy rule is a bit harsh,” Farrell says. “Giving detention when someone is one minute late seems wrong because you never know when someone is having a rough morning. I think our school needs to be more understanding, and at least give students a second chance before immediately issuing a detention.”
Students also argue that we are only human and make mistakes.
“Sometimes you make mistakes as a person, everyone makes mistakes, and deserves a second chance,” Dmitriyev adds.
For NHS administrators, the new tardy rule is understandably a challenging policy to adjust to.
“Do we understand that there’s always a day where someone has a bad day, and you wake up late? It is what it is,” Curtin said. “It should be that day and there shouldn’t be any more issues. We are trying to be mindful of that piece, too.”
This is the opinion of Ava Hirleman, a sophomore at Nonnewaug and a features editor for the Chief Advocate.
