We had a PTA Association Meeting earlier this month, where we discussed attendance.
One issue that surprised many parents was the number of tardy students here at Montair.
It is an ongoing problem. School for our AM littles begins at 8:10am, yet I see red and black bags being unloaded along with their big siblings at 8:15 all the way until 8:30. School for our “bigs” starts at 8:20 and at 8:30, I am still welcoming cars in the carpool lane. We are a school of about 550 students. We consistently have over 2000 tardies per year.
Why is this an issue? What’s the big deal?
Tardy students disrupt their learning and learning of others as they come in late, needing teacher to repeat directions or get them settled.
Tardy students miss out on opening announcements that set the tone for the day.
First thing in the morning is prime learning time as kids are most cognitively available. Tardy students miss out on this prime learning time. Consistent tardiness establishes habits that are hard to break and can negatively impact student success. Job interviews, meetings, employment do not take tardiness lightly. We are not preparing our kids for the real world if we don’t pay attention to punctuality now.
When a student knows he/she is tardy, it creates anxiety about arriving at school. Anxiety triggers a rush of cortisol which inhibits learning for about 30 minutes.
Excused tardies are sometimes unavoidable. If the garage door was broken or there was a sigalert on 680, there is not much you can do. But most of our tardies at Montair are unexcused...slept in, took a long time to eat breakfast, long line at Starbucks.
Showing up, being present, being on time says, "I am worth your time, and you are worth mine."
Making sure you are on time communicates to our kids that being punctual is important.
Let’s work together to get our kids to school on time!
Ondi Tricaso
Principal
