Raphael Nigaglioni | staff writer

Students use the excuses of “my dog ate my homework” or “I didn’t know it was due today,” but most teachers have been around long enough to know that this may not be the case for all late assignments. The way teachers deal with late work can vary.

“The school policy is that I have to accept work until the unit we are working with closes, with 20% deduction of the assignment’s grade,” english II Pre-AP teacher Mark Cannon said.

NEISD has a district policy for late work that penalizes the grade.

“There is usually more late work from the sophomores than the juniors, which logically makes sense. It also depends on the assignment.The simpler stuff is usually in on time. Work that takes a little more effort is more likely to be late,” Cannon said.

Late work is more common among underclassmen but it is still something all grade levels have in common. The amount of time a student had to do an assignment is a huge factor in deciding whether or not it may be late.

“Sometimes I accept late work, sometimes I don’t. It depends if it was an assignment that the student had a mass amount of time to do and if they knew well in advance that the assignment was due, then no,”  Spanish III Pre-AP teacher Jennifer Aranda said, adding, “Usually, I get more late work from things I assigned over a period of time rather than short term assignments. I know that several students are pulled in every direction with AP classes and being involved in various activities, but it is still very stressful for a teacher with six classes and 120-180 students to grade all these piles of late work.”

Despite being involved in extracurricular activities and AP classes, it is still a student’s responsibility to get your work in on time.

“I had quite a bit of late work, actually, but I turned it all in. I usually have a lot of late work in English and Spanish; it’s a lot easier to turn work in on time because your work can pile up if you turn things in late,” sophomore Adam Nettel said.

Although it may be easier for students to turn work in on time, a large amount of students still turn it in late.

“I try to get all my work in on time, but sometimes it can be really hard. I don’t like getting my grade penalized, but I know I shouldn’t really receive full credit if I turn something in past the due date,” Nettel said.

The students aren’t the only ones affected by the lateness, the teachers are too.

“I feel defeated when I see all the late work on my desk at the end of the quarter. If I receive a paper a long time after it was due, I send it straight to the recycle bin. Whenever I get a paper that looks rushed through, and looks like little effort was put into it, I give it a rushed grade,” Cannon said.

Hopefully students can learn from their mistakes and strive to get all their work in the following nine weeks.

“I am going to try really hard to not have any missing or late assignments. It’s really a lot easier to just turn work in on time and not go through the hassle of having to deal with late stuff,” Nettel said.