MISSION SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOL
VOL. 55, NO. 5
January 31, 2020
41717 PALM AVENUE, FREMONT, CA 94539
by t h e n u m b e r s : st u d e n t ta r d i n e s s By Megh Basu, Mahek Bhora, Maggie Lai & Amanda Pang Staff Writers
START 7:59 AM
Have you had an unexcused tardy in the past month?
OVERVIEW
59.3%
Tardiness results in various consequences ranging in severity, from attending Saturday school to receiving tardy contracts. Widespread conversation about such schoolwide penalties has risen in recent years, so to better inform MSJ students about this issue, the Smoke Signal collected 200 survey responses across grade levels from six classes on January 13 and interviewed members of the MSJ community. Are you currently on a tardy contract?
NO YES
EXPERIMENTATION
CURRENT POLICIES The current policy requires tardy students to turn in an office slip explaining the reasons for being tardy to their teachers. If a student arrives later than 30 minutes to class, it is considered a truancy — an unauthorized absence — and the student will attend Saturday school. After accumulating six truancies, FUSD sends a letter to parents as the first warning. Subsequent letters are sent at nine tardies, and students are placed on tardy contracts at 11 tardies.
89.9%
NO YES 10.1%
In 2010, Assistant Principal Jeff Evans investigated the tardy situation and implemented several changes. He said, “I heard the talk of extending the passing. It used to be five minutes, and kids complained that [there] wasn’t enough time to get to class, and then we made it seven minutes. There wasn’t a drop in tardiness; in fact, there was an increase.” While working on his master’s degree, Evans conducted a study on tardiness and punishment practices by putting himself in students’ shoes. “If you walk from the farthest end of the school to the other end at a regular pace, it takes three minutes, so we then reduced the passing period to six minutes to build time for advisory and did not see a rise in tardiness,” he said. How often does a teacher give you consequences for a tardy?
TARDY CONTRACTS
In addition, the school issues tardy contracts for continual tardiness. Assistant Principal Jeana Nightengale said, “There are first, second, and third tardy letters ... The third letter is a tardy contract.” Continuing, she said, “You’ve been warned the first letter, you’ve been warned the second letter, so it’s not until the third letter that they’re placed on a tardy contract at 11 unexcused tardies, and then they’re sent to Saturday school for two hours.”
17%
24.2%
lOSiNg iNfOrmatiON
39.2%
19.6%
iNtErruptiNg claSS NO advErSE EffEctS bEiNg diSrESpEctful
10.3%
0% Of
thE timE
25% 50% 75% 100%
75.3%
EFFECTS ON LEARNING Tardiness often has adverse effects: late students cause distractions for the class and often miss out on vital information. History Teacher Brian Soria said, “If a student is habitually tardy, it means they habitually miss part of class. I usually start my class right away.” Overall, late students have less time to get work done and disrupt those around them, decreasing the class’s productivity. This behavior is also rude, showing a lack of commitment to the educational opportunities presented. Math and History Teacher Kim Mathis said, “When a student is tardy and we’ve already started, we have to pause to catch that person up. I find it a level of disrespect to the class because you think you need us to stop for you.”
CONSEQUENCES What do you think is the most adverse effect of tardiness?
40.7%
Consequences for tardiness normally depend on the teachers, but can develop into larger repercussions at the administrative level. Teachers often establish classroom rules to enforce timeliness among their students, including lowering participation points and overall grades. Math and History Teacher Kim Mathis said, “[If you’re tardy] in my math class ... you don’t get to turn in your homework — that’s an embedded consequence.”
STATISTICS & TRENDS
ARRIVE 8:05 AM
ONLINE
THIS MONTH
www.thesmokesignal.org
In the past month, 40.7% of surveyed students received an unexcused tardy, with 26.2% receiving two or more. When the bell rings, there are still many students who are either purposely or unpurposely late to class, indicating there is still more to be done regarding how the tardy policy is enforced. Additionally, out of the students who are tardy, 56% are late for one to five minutes and 2.5% are later for more than five minutes. This statistic demonstrates that a majority of students do not miss much class time — only a few minutes each day. However, the time does accumulate. History Teacher Brian Soria said, “Say, I’m only late 10 minutes. Well you have been late 10 minutes 30 days so add that up. 10 minutes worth of 30 days [means] you are missing whole classes.”
How many minutes are you late on average?
Among the students surveyed, 66.7% listed causes for being late — such as using the bathroom and having a long distance to the next class — that could be solved by longer passing periods. This trend is also reflected in the responses to reducing tardiness, as 60.2% of the responses believed longer passing periods would mitigate tardiness. ▪
THE RISE OF SKYWALKER REVIEW
SMOKIE PODCAST EPISODE 2: EDITOR Q&A
The Rise of Skywalker made history as the last movie of an incredibly iconic series. Check out the Smoke Signal’s review of the final episode of Star Wars.
In the second episode of the Smokie Podcast, listen to editors from the Smoke Signal answer questions submitted by the MSJ student body.
i am NOt latE tO claSS
41.4%
1 2 3
8.1%
21.2% 18.2%
4 5+
FOR MORE COVERAGE, VISIT www.THESMOKESIGNAL.ORG