There have been changes this year in the tardy policy due to the previous tardy policy not being effective enough.

Last year’s tardy policy of being able to have seven tardies per week was changed to being able to have two tardies per week.

These changes were made by Dr. Jeff Stichler after the recommendation from a committee comprised of teachers in May. They talked about how tardies where an issue, and voted on changing the old policy into the new policy of two tardies per week.

One argument was that the old policy of getting seven tardies per nine weeks was not giving students the chance to start over once they hit the seven-tardy limit, giving the students a referral per tardy.

“That’s like getting a 99 average in a class or you get a referral,” Stichler said.

The new policy of two tardies per week gives students the opportunity to make things up and begin with a fresh start.

However, even with the changes, there’s still a tardy issue. Stichler and the committee decided to add random tardy sweeps to remind students they should get to class on time. The consequences of being late during a tardy sweep would be after school detention that day, rather than later on in the week.

They made tardy sweeps random and sporadic because they do not want to keep students from going to class “five minutes later then what it would have been if they were just 30 second late.”

Many student prefer this year’s tardy policy since it gives more chances to get to class and opportunities to start over again.

“I would rather not worry about getting a referral the week after I’ve reached my two tardy limit,” sophomore Karen Pacheco said.

But many students judgment on the tardy sweeps are different. Some students think the consequences to getting caught in a tardy sweep is inconvenient.

“It doesn’t make sense that you’re forced to stay after school because you were a couple of seconds late,” freshman Karla Chavarria said.

At the end of the day, Stichler said he and the committee are trying to address the tardy policy but still remain understanding of student needs.

For complete text of the tardy policy, refer to the CCHS Student Handbook.