Policy 09–02: Lates

Background and Rationale:

In the past, there has been a practice of issuing late slips to students at the front office and recording the lateness on a student’s attendance record for reporting on report cards. This practice kept track of lates but did not address the issue of being late or the concerns of teachers over classes starting late and multiple disruptions to the lesson caused by students entering the classroom at different intervals. The following policy and procedures have the following goals;

  1. To help the students arrive in class on time
  2. To respect the students who are on time and the teachers through curbing constant interruptions to class by students arriving late
  3. To reinforce the message that it is not acceptable to arrive late to class
  4. Reinforce the value of attending class and contributing to the learning environment.

Policy:

Students who arrive after the bell report to the office. At the office, the late is recorded and the student directed by office staff to the appropriate learning environment.

Procedure:

Students who arrive to class after the bell go directly to the office.Office staff will distinguish between;

Excused lates - those caused by circumstances beyond a student’s control (e.g. emergencies, doctors appointments, road and weather conditions, an injury, a visit to the school counselor, etc…) A phone call, or a note from parents explaining the reason for their child being late is generally accepted as an excused late.

Unexcused lates – those caused by students making poor choices (e.g. staying out after the bell to finish a cigarette, going to the store at inappropriate times, wandering the halls, etc…)

  1. Excused late students are given a late slip to allow them to enter their classroom quietly and join in the lesson.
  1. Unexcused latestudents will be asked to go to his/her locker to get the necessary books for that particular class so that she/he can work ahead or, alternatively, work on assignments that need to be completed, and report to the designated classroom.
  1. Designated classrooms are classrooms where teachers feel a student entering the classroom and working independently on assignments that do not require teacher direction will cause no disruption to their lesson.
  1. In classes such as Physical Education, Art, or Shop, where there is generally no assigned work outside of class, a student may work on assignments from his/her other courses.
  1. A student who claims that he/she claim has nothing to work on will be asked to remain on the bench outside the office until the next class, and complete a plan for getting to school and/or classes on time. The plan encourages students to reflect on his/her reasons for being late, strategies for preventing further occurrences, and ways to get caught up in the class that was missed. The completed plan is then presented to the teacher(s) of the class(es) from which the student was absent, and together the student and teacher(s) review the strategies to catch up and prevent a further reoccurrence.
  1. It is the intention that this policy encourages ongoing efforts to promote and assist students in arriving at class in time and not to limit or discourage students in this end.