Ridgeline High School has recently implied a new tardy policy for students. Under this new policy, students who arrive as the bell rings or later, including the beginning of the school day and lunch, must stand in line at the main office or in the commons. Then they must get your name written on a slip with your class hour, time you checked in and teacher. Next you proceed to get checked into the schools Chromebook with your first and last name. The slip then needs to be given to the teacher, which typically interrupts the class and lesson.

This policy, intedend to track attendance and discourage tardiness, might be having the opposite affect. Many students have expressed frustration with this new policy, claiming that it only adds to the time they spend being late. Instead of quickly entering the classroom and catching up with the lesson, they now have to go through the additional step of obtaining a late slip. This process not only takes up valuable class time but also creates a backlog to the main office and the commons, leading to longer wait time and missed learning opportunities for students. Cooper Darley stated that being marked tardy obviously isn’t anything new, but adding the commons check in process is and it encourages students to just not go to class because they are already later than they originally were in the first place. Students across Ridgeline express their feelings just as Cooper did. “Often times I think it takes more time to get a signed note than it does to just come to class. But if the bell rings as they are walking in, let them go to class.” Said Alana Lange, teacher of Ridgeline High school. Alana also said it’s a good idea how “they have access to check-ins at both main entrances.”