Last Wednesday I entered AT at 7:47 am but did not enter my first-period classroom until 8:06 am, thanks to the tardy line that had filled outside AT doors minutes after the bell indicating school was in session rang.
To enter first-period students who walk through the front doors after 7:45 am require a pass. To attain a pass requires students to stand in a line and wait for their ID number to be logged and for a pass to be completely filled out.
It is a frequent occurrence for the line to file outside AT doors because it is a frequent occurrence for students to arrive at school a minute or 2 late. Of course, it shouldn’t be a habit to arrive late, but a morning mistake should never result in missing unnecessary class time.
There should absolutely be disciplinary measures taken for students who fail to follow rules, but if the primary reason for a student to be present at school is to learn in a classroom environment, no disciplinary measures should impede any student’s ability to learn.
On days when the weather causes delay, there should certainly be a grace period for students to enter the building without the hassle of a tardy pass or any consequence because doing so grants reason to skip any attendance altogether.
AT should encourage learning before discipline because instilling disciplinary values in students should either occur in primary school or remain outside the classroom because it is an impediment to a rigorous high school curriculum.
The same idea extends to in-school interventions (ISI). Misconduct, for any reason, should not be the cause of gaps in learning. It is objectively pointless for students to watch Netflix on their phones or browse the internet on their Chromebooks when they are present in the building and fully able to learn.
Pulling students from class for disciplinary reasons is almost counterproductive to everything school should be.
Standing in a line to give my ID number, name, and first period classroom number (that I don’t even know) with close to 30 other students is a waste of time that I should be utilizing to analyze the Russian government in comparison to the Chinese government.
Especially when 98% of my teachers would rather have students in class than ensure we hold out a now orange pass when we walk through the door.
Life happens, and disciplinary measures are necessary because attendance is compulsory, but at an educational institution, learning should forever be prioritized over a red mark.
