Figuring out the new rules at Doherty has caused trouble among some students and staff. Going into the 2024-2025 academic year, students saw rules that were never implemented before causing some debate.
Starting this year, administrators enforced a new tardy policy that states as follows, “Students who are considered tardy, arriving to class after the bell, will not be admitted to class without a pass.” (Doherty Student Handbook). This is something that wasn’t implemented in previous years at Doherty.
The repercussions for unexcused tardiness can range a lot. Students with 1-3 tardies could end up in lunch detention given by the teacher or receiving a phone call home. 4-5 results in-school suspension and receiving a referral. Having more than 5 can result in being referred to the district attendance process.
This new rule has caused some students to disagree with it, saying it makes them later than they would have originally been and causes disruptions in class. Madelyn Menendez says, “I honestly think it causes students to miss more class time compared to when we didn’t have to go through the process of getting a pass.”
Marley Winters also agreed, “Yeah, and it’s such a big embarrassing moment when you walk into class, and everyone is staring at you until the moment you sit down.”
While this rule can be inconvenient for students, it’s actually caused some improvement with student attendance and tardiness compared to last year. Attendance dean, Mr. Phalen “I have been told that our tardy situation has improved from years past.” Although this is his first year at Doherty, he is committed to making sure student attendance improves and helps students succeed in school.
We are also not the only school in D11 doing this either, our tardy policy falls in line with other neighboring schools. While the consequences can seem a little harsh, Mr. Phalen said, “In my experience from other schools in other districts, ours is more student-friendly and teacher-friendly.”
It feels like this rule is half and half with students and staff. It has resulted in improvements within our school but has also caused some discourse among the Doherty community. What do you think about this new rule? Does it help you academically or cause more issues than intended?
