by Karina Correa | tech editor
On Friday, August 19, the tardy sweep system will begin for all students and teachers.
“The tardy sweep is basically a system to hold people accountable, and make sure we’re getting to class. That’s one of our number one priorities; for students to be where they’re supposed to be,” Assistant Principal Jonathan Campbell said. “Using the sweep method creates a way where we have teachers in the hallway, can write out the tardy slips, enter it in through one of our programs that we have for tardies, and then it sort of takes some work off the classroom teacher, but still has that accountability piece to make sure we’re getting to class on time.”
This is a technique that was used around five years ago and is being implemented again.
“It’s just one of those things where as we’re coming closer and closer to having a typical normal school year and want to bring it back, and also just have that importance of making sure you know we’re getting to the place we need to be on time,” Campbell said.
The tardy sweep facilitates teachers’ work with marking tardies.
“For teachers, that helps out because it creates like I said, that accountability piece you’re also able to sort of have those conversations in the hallway doesn’t have to be a negative conversation,” Campbell said. “For some of those teachers, they’re able to get to the hallways before the tardy bell rings, and it gives you a chance to build relationships that way. It takes a little bit off the individual classroom teachers’ plate because they’re not having to go in to Skyward every time that someone is coming in late and marking them tardy keeps changing their attendance. So that’s really the main benefit as of right now.”
Believe it or not, it’s also helpful for students in a way.
“For students, it’s getting to class on time at a much higher success rate. I mean, you have almost 3,200 students, so it’s very easy for people to get sort of lost in the flow or whatever,” Campbell said.
Last spring the tardy penalty used to be a warning on the 10th tardy and the lunch detention for the 15th. The penalty for a specific amount of tardies has changed this year.
“We have decreased that so students will get a warning after their third tardy, and the first lunch detention will happen after the 7th tardy, but it will sort of follow the same pattern between lunch detentions and you know, a bit work its way up to a certain number, there is a potential for ISS,” Campbell said.
Just like last year, tardies and absences will reset at the semester.
“In terms of having the tardy sweep program, we’re going to have that through this year. There might be adjustments that we make throughout the year based on feedback that we get from teachers but it is definitely something that we’re looking to bring back long term,” Campbell said.
