PA administration instituted a new tardy policy for the 2022-23, allowing students nine minutes to be in the building after school begins at 7:30 a.m. before being marked late for school by the front office. 

According to the new tardy policy, if a student arrives at school after Block 1 begins but before 7:40 a.m., they will only be marked late for that class, as opposed to the whole day.  Students arriving after 7:40 a.m., however, will still be marked “tardy for school,” and after three offenses, they will serve office detentions. 

“A trend was noticed that indicated students were more willing to come in much later if they were only going to be a minute or so late, because the consequences were the same at 1 minute or 15 or 90,” said Ms. Parkinson, the director of curriculum.

The new policy has already decreased the number of students being disciplined. Last year, there were twice as many students late and issued either warnings or office detentions than this year. 

Some students said they were not aware of the policy had changed, or that we even had a policy at all. 

Other students believe the tardy policy is fair and will be effective. “I think it’s better to have these extra nine minutes so we are not getting disciplined for going in a minute after the bell,” said junior Liza Queen     

Meagan Katrirebas, also a junior at PA, agrees. “It seems like it’s a better idea, especially for students who can’t drive themselves to school every morning.”

Still, some faculty, in particular, were not pleased by the new administrative lenience. “I think it’s teaching students to be late,” said English teacher Ms. Ficken. “It’s not fair to the students that get here at 7:30 a.m.”