This article is reproduced as it appears in the April issue of The Lancer Spirit News magazine.
According to the LHS parking permit application, “Students who can’t make it to school on time will lose their parking permit after six unexcused tardies to school for the year.”
While this policy, according to House I Assistant Principal Abbey Sloper and Principal Jason Parent, has been in the books for at least eight years, it should be changed for next year.
Simply put: This rule is just too harsh on students.
If parking permit holders are allowed only six unexcused tardies throughout the 180-day school year before his or her parking permit is revoked, then that means students with parking permits are expected to attend a minimum of 174 school days without ever being late to their first class.
If you do the math, it is expected that those students need to arrive on time 96.7% of the time during the entire school year.
We’re all human, and we all make mistakes during a 180-day time period, so enforcing this year-long policy seems too extreme.
Everyone has a few bad days, so is it really necessary to allow such a narrow margin of error for being late?
That being said, it is understandable that the school wants to encourage students to get to school on time, so they don’t miss important content. Timeliness also demonstrates that a person is responsible and can be counted on, which matters both at school and out in the “real world.”
Moreover, students need to be aware that they’re being granted permission to park their vehicle on campus, which is a privilege, not a right. They should not take this privilege for granted or abuse it.
However, no one is perfect, and even the best, most responsible students are sometimes tardy.
Isn’t there a compromise that can be made?
Here’s a potential solution: Permit five unexcused tardies per semester and have them reset second semester.
That way, students would be able to start off on a clean slate second semester and have a little more “wiggle room” to be tardy throughout a longer period of time.
Once a student hits five tardies, their parking permit would be revoked, so the next student on the waiting list could get a pass, which is similar to the current policy.
However, if a student has one, two, three or four tardies during semester one and maintains that number until the end of first semester, then they would get to “start fresh” at zero once the new semester begins.
All students get a fresh start with their grades at the beginning of each semester, so why should the parking policy operate any differently? Even year-long classes are still considered two separate semesters, so grades, attendance, etc. begin anew after exams in January.
In fact, students are allowed five unexcused absences per quarter before getting what the handbook calls an “administrative failure” or an “E.” So here’s a policy that’s enforced not even on a semester basis but on a quarterly basis.
Why is the parking pass policy a full year when other attendance-related policies last a full semester or even only a quarter?
It’s time for more consistency across the board on these issues.
Another reason the policy should be less strict is the impact it can often have on students’ decision on whether or not to attend school.
Here is a typical situation:
Suppose a student wakes up late one morning and knows there is no way he’s going to be on time for his first class. With the current policy in place, that student might feel it’s not worth the tardy that could eventually lead to him getting his parking permit revoked, so he decides to just not attend school that day.
Yes, it’s a student’s choice as to whether or not he or she decides to go to school despite being tardy, and of course he or she will feel the educational consequences of this decision.
However, if tardies counting toward parking passes were to be reset at the semester, this might get them to school even when they might be tardy for their first class.
It might help students realize missing a day of school to avoid being tardy isn’t necessary because that tardy won’t exist come second semester.
Everyone has a few bad days. Why should those bad days haunt students for an entire year?
Students get to push the refresh button every new semester. Let them press it for tardies relating to parking passes as well.
