It’s 8:40 am at Calabasas High School, ten minutes after the first bell. First period has already started, but the front gate of the school is jammed with a line of roughly fifty students. The line wraps all the way around the entrance, blocked off by a makeshift barricade, slowly inching students towards the attendance office for a tardy slip. These are the occasional, randomized tardy sweeps that CHS staff have implemented this year.
What should be a rushed walk to class turns into a frustrating wait that takes longer than just showing up late to class. Students wait in a slow line, pushing to the office, waiting to get a lousy piece of paper that they are to give to their teacher to prove their tardiness. It’s a process that costs around ten more minutes of class time, time that could’ve been spent actually in class. For many students, the tardy sweeps feel pointless and over the top.
Instead of teachers marking students tardy when they arrive late to class, we’re directed to go through a system that makes the start of the day frustrating and one of the many humps students have to get over throughout the long school day. It makes the morning more difficult than it already is. It’s like being punished twice, once for being late and again for having to miss more class waiting for a tardy slip.
Some students are late due to the overwhelming amount of traffic; all streets are congested every morning by the surrounding schools of Calabasas, such as Louisville High School, AC Stelle, and Chaparral Elementary. There is no way around it other than showing up to school relatively early. On top of that, there is also the occasional road work. And let’s not forget about the morning routine chaos of all the different students. Getting to school on time every single day is easier said than done. It takes everything falling into place perfectly in the morning, from the minute the alarm goes off, to how heavy the traffic is, for students to arrive at school on time.
The three to four staff members in the attendance office do their best to handle the crowd, but it’s obvious they’re overwhelmed. Once you reach the office, each student is questioned why they’re late, staff members then circle their reasoning on the slip (“unexcused”, “excused”), it’s signed, and finally separated into two pieces of paper so the office can keep track of attendance.
CHS senior Jock Touché was asked if he believes the system is efficient. He didn’t hesitate to shed light on his opinion.
“Not really, I think we’re gonna get marked tardy anyway. What they’re trying to do is make sure kids are more targeted because some teachers slack off. But it’s not gonna change anything because kids can just throw away their tardy slips,” said Touché.
Lola Bonneau, another CHS senior, had a similar belief.
“The other day, I literally got here right when the bell rang. I stepped foot into school, and the bell rang, and they were like, ‘Nope, go get a tardy slip.’ It’s kind of too strict, not very lenient to the students,” Bonneau said.
That’s the reality for most students; it’s not that they don’t understand the importance of being on time. It’s that the process doesn’t seem to help. Instead of encouraging punctuality, it creates frustration and wastes class time. Of course, the simplest way to avoid all of this is to show up on time. But for high school students balancing late nights, early mornings, and full schedules, it’s a lot harder than it looks.
CHS Principal Bennett Wutkee says, “We’ve definitely seen a decrease in tardies. It’s a combination of requiring students to have five or fewer tardies to be eligible for an off-campus pass. The tardy sweeps have had a positive impact in getting kids to class on time.”
Secretary and Communications Coordinator of CHS, Wendy Merrell, also agreed with Wutkee.
“We’ve definitely seen an improvement with tardies since the tardy sweeps. I think it’s made students more aware that they need to take accountability and be more responsible for getting to class on time,” said Merrell.
Together, the staff believes these sweeps are necessary to set expectations and reinforce structure. From their perspective, the system encourages students to take responsibility for their own actions and treats punctuality as a life skill, not just a school rule. They see the results in improved attendance and smoother class starts, even if the process feels unpopular amongst students.
Students feel the frustration while staff see results. I believe there is a better balance to be found. Maybe the goal is accountability, and that’s what students need in this day and age. On the other hand, this system feels more like an obstacle than a solution. It’s a punishment. It’s time to rethink how we handle being just a few minutes late.
