As part of our ongoing efforts to support a positive school environment and maximize student learning, we are placing an increased focus on reducing lost instructional time especially related to students arriving late to class or school.
This is not a new focus for us at MASH, but with the expansion of our building, we have organized student schedules into general zones to support timely transitions. Students have five minutes between classes, which is sufficient to arrive on time. While most students meet this expectation, we continue to see the greatest number of tardies occur during arrival to first period.
We shared these updates with students and staff earlier this week as part of our “Community in Action” focus for the month of April where we help students consider how their decisions impact an entire school community. We also emphasized that punctuality is an important life and workplace skill, and high school is a practice ground for these habits.
Reminder: Students must be in their first block class by 8:20 AM. Students arriving after this time are marked tardy to school. Excessive unexcused tardies to school may be converted into unexcused absences from school in accordance with attendance guidelines, and families will be notified if this becomes a concern. Every time a student accumulates 220 minutes, it is converted to a half day unlawful absence. For safety, parent drop-off in the student parking lot is not permitted. All drop-off must occur at the front of the building off Broad Street. We have taken steps to improve traffic flow in this area.
Beginning April 20, we will implement a revised approach to tardiness during the school day. Students who arrive late to class may be assigned a lunch detention, and repeated tardiness will be addressed with additional support and consequences.
Thank you for your continued partnership and support.
