latenesses

After much reflection and deliberation, students who are late will no longer be sent to Hallsweep. A careful review of the amount of instructional time missed, the number of students who are deliberately late to avoid instruction and our desire to increase academic achievement, prompted administrators and some faculty members to question this procedure. We decided this procedure is not in the best interest of students. Instead, students who are late to school and to class will be sent to class and receive a consequence for lateness. Each time a student is late, they will be given a letter to notify you of their lateness to class or to school. This is important information because three unexcused tardies is equivalent to one unexcused absence. Baltimore County Public Schools policy states a student who has three unexcused absences in a class will fail that class for the quarter.

Parents are no longer required to sign in students who are late. Students who are late to school will also be sent to class and receive the appropriate consequence for lateness. Baltimore County Board of Education has specific "lawful" excused absences. Some, such as, medical, court, death, for example, require proof. The same "lawful" reasons for absences will be used to determine whether the lateness to school is excused or unexcused.

Lateness to school is one area we cannot impact but YOU can! We have a huge problem with students arriving late and, as a result, they miss valuable instructional time. In some cases, the same students are late three or four times each week. Everyday, the staff signs in thirty or forty students who are late to school. On some days, we have had as many as sixty students late. You can understand the amount of time and disruption to the instructional program these numbers cause the front office staff and teachers. We really need the assistance of parents and guardians if we expect to change this behavior. Please discuss the importance of being on time with your child. We want to decrease the amount of interruptions to instruction and increase the amount of time on task. Students who are consistently late to school miss valuable instructional time that affects how much they learn and the grades they receive.

Academic achievement will improve when there is an increase in the amount of time students spend meaningfully engaged in instruction. If you have any questions, please contact your child's administrator or me. We look forward to discussing this matter with you.

Thank you, so much, for your support in this important matter.