THIS IS A DRAFT OF THE TARDY POLICY.

DSHS TARDY POLICY

Philosophy – Academic success is directly correlated to attendance and tardies.  Administrators, counselors, campus supervisors, teachers, students and parents must work together to make sure students are present and on time to each class of the day.  There must also be a strong effort by each person in our community to help students arrive to class on time and be prepared to learn.

This policy will work only if each and every person involved participates consistently to implement this policy.  It is divided into the following four areas:

1.                  Teacher participation

2.                  Implementation of an effective tardy policy with interventions.

3.                  Consistent enforcement of the policy by all staff

4.                  The school truancy intervention program will consistently be monitored and applied.

Each person has a role:

Administrators – will support counselors and teachers by assigning and monitoring lunch detention, suspension, and all other interventions provided.

Counselors – will meet with habitually tardy students and make parent contacts. 

Campus Supervisors – will patrol the campus, monitor the flow of student traffic, and help students get to class on time.

Teachers – will make every effort to monitor the hallways during passing periods for at least the last two minutes while greeting students at the door, keep the student traffic moving and be a positive adult presence, and show students that teachers do want them to be on time.

Teachers’ responsibilities include:

• recording attendance daily in their roll books and web attendance.
• not allowing students out of class without a proper hall pass.
• playing their role in the special “Tardy Gatherings” by not allowing tardy students to enter after the tardy bell rings unless the student presents a pass to be late.
• show positive role modeling by being to class on time themselves.

Students – will arrive to each and every class on time.  They will attend lunch detentions and all other assigned interventions.

Parents – will support their child in arriving to school on time.  Parents will communicate with teachers, advisers and administrators and support the discipline process. 

Notes to teachers/staff:

      *    The tardy policy will start at the beginning of each semester.

*    All parent notification will come from the administration from the third tardy on, unless of course, you feel a pressing need to contact the parent also.  The more contacts, the better!

*    Grades may not be affected by tardies.  Grades may be affected by taking away points if the student misses an assignment because of tardiness.

*    Don’t advocate that students miss an opportunity to demonstrate learning.

*    Everyone must change their attitudes re: tardies.

*    “Tardy gatherings” will be conducted periodically (when necessary).  Faculty/staff will be notified of a pre-determined period and date for these gatherings. When the tardy bell rings for this period of the tardy gathering, teachers will not let students in until after 15 minutes into the class period, unless a student has a pass to be late. This should give administration enough time to quickly collect the students, take their names, give them their consequences and send them back to class with a pass.

*    No student should miss full/partial classes without prior permission from the following class teacher(s).

DSHS Tardy Policy Discipline Matrix

For the purpose of this tardy policy, a tardy will be defined as a student who is not inside the classroom when the tardy bell begins to ring.

Teachers’ Responsibilities:

1^st tardy

• Teacher warning issued to student.
• Student notified of consequences for the next tardies.

2^nd tardy

• Teacher warning.
• Student assigned a teacher consequence.
• Failure to complete teacher consequence will result in an administrative referral.
• Student notified of consequences for the next tardy.
• Teacher will notify parents of the consequence and the consequences for the next tardy.

3^rd tardy

• Teacher sends a referral for the 3^rd tardy to administration.
• Student assigned one lunchtime detention.
• Administration/designee will notify the parents of the detention and the consequences for the next tardy.
• No shows to detention will result in a reschedule of three lunchtime detentions.

4^th tardy

• Teacher sends a referral for the 4^th tardy to administration.
• Student assigned three lunchtime detentions.
• Administration/designee will notify parents of the detentions and the consequences for the next tardy.
• No show to any of the detentions will result in a reschedule of five lunchtime detentions.

5^th tardy

• Teacher sends a referral for the 5^th tardy to administration.
• Student assigned five lunchtime detentions.
• Administration/designee will notify parents of the detentions and the consequences for the next tardy.
• No show to any of the detentions will result in a one day at home suspension.

6^th tardy

• Teacher sends a referral for each of the next tardies for administrative action(s).

There will be no suspensions for tardies. Suspensions will only be applied for no shows to school detentions, Saturday school, or in-house suspensions.  In addition, an incentive program will be developed to reward students for excellent attendances.