Administration should consider traffic when punishing late students

Due to recent absences and excessive student tardiness, administration has started cracking down and disciplining students. Students may be late to class because of irresponsible use of their six minute passing period, but this is not always the case.

The expectation is for every student to be on time for their first period, which starts at 8:30 a.m., but morning traffic can hinder students’ arrival. Many students are car riders or drive themselves to school, and traffic makes finding parking spots challenging.

I think NC should still keep the same expectation, but maybe consider a five minute grace period in the morning for students to arrive. Administration sometimes gives grace periods for buses and heavy traffic, but maybe we should keep the grace period in place. I feel like this will cut down excessive morning tardiness and will have more students attending their first period.

In addition, students should work on having a set schedule of when they are leaving for school. I understand that life happens, but leaving ten minutes earlier might help people arrive on time. I know some students have small errands to run in the morning, but these should be considered when deciding when to wake up.

As a student driver myself, I understand how hard it is to get to school on time and how bad morning traffic can get. I do believe traffic can affect a student’s ability to get to school on time, so administrators should consider having a mandatory five minute grace period only in the morning. And students should have a plan in place to beat the morning traffic, so they won’t be taking advantage of teachers’ instructional time!