Mason City High School has introduced a new tardy policy affecting students in the hope of combating the nationwide epidemic of showing up late.
“The hope is to get students out of the hallways sooner and into classrooms for longer,” said Dusty Rhodes, associate principal.
The new policy states if a student is late for class by five minutes or less, then it is marked as a tardy. But if a student is late for class over five minutes, then it is considered an unexcused absence. Last year, students didn’t receive an unexcused tardy until being 10 minutes or more late to class.
According to Alia Wong author of Chronic absenteeism is schools’ ‘biggest problem.’ Five reasons kids are missing school, “From 2018 to 2023, the rate of chronic absenteeism nearly doubled, from 15% to 26%.”
Some students haven’t noticed a change.
“It doesn’t matter to me because I don’t skip class [but] I do think it upsets other people because they do skip class,” said sophomore Maximus Tripp.
This policy is something new for staff to think about. Ms. Yarrow, a biology and anatomy teacher, said, “[It’s] a good thing; we want you in class.”
The discipline for being late differs by the teacher. If the student does not follow that disciplinary action, then the office takes charge of the punishment. If that is avoided, then the student goes to ISS.
