As the Spring semester kicks off, Cy Creek administration has begun a new tardy sweep policy aimed at raising grades and attendance rates across the school.
Students who are in the hallways without a hall pass after the tardy bell rings are swept and sent to the Large Commons where they may be subject to a metal detector search. After receiving a blue tardy pass, they head back to class once the hallways are clear.
The new approach has reduced the amount of tardies in a single day by at least approximately 27 percent, based on an estimate comparing tardies Dec. 15 and Jan. 19.
“[Students] want to get to class on time and do well, and that’s what we want to support,” Associate Principal Frank Fraley said.
According to Fraley, this stricter policy will ensure students are not missing the crucial first few minutes of instruction, allowing students to focus and stay on task.
“We [have] a little over 2800 students getting to class on time every single day, and it’s improving every day too with students doing what we expect,” Fraley said.
However, according to some students, the tardy sweep policy has brought both good and bad changes to the school.
“While at first, [I] didn’t really understand why the policy was put into effect, the hallways are just much easier to walk around now with [it] in place,” junior Manuel Gomez said.
On the other hand, according to junior Jake Perez, the tardy sweep policy does the opposite of getting some students to class on time.
“If you’re tardy, you have to sit down in the cafeteria until they have everyone in there,” Perez said. “It doesn’t make sense. I would rather take a tardy from my teacher than miss 30 minutes of class.”
For now, changes to the policy remain to be seen, as both students and staff agree that the system can be improved upon.
“Although it may come off as rather extreme for some students, I believe that the administration [should] be able to give a grace period to those who aren’t repeat offenders,” Gomez said.
According to Fraley, the staff is working on offering incentives to students who have been improving their tardy rates or those who consistently get to class such as through gift card raffles and other signs of support.