Earlier start time leads to tardy increase

Starting the school day two minutes earlier at the high school has increased the amount of tardy students by about 20 percent according to information provided by Main Office Secretary Theresa Sarrazin.

Last year there were 995 tardies from the first day of school to November 10th and this year in that same timeframe, 1,197 tardies were recorded (excluding the seniors).

In addition to school starting two minutes earlier, it ends one minute later. “As part of the new teacher contract, they negotiated ten more hours of professional development,”said Principal Dianna Bonneville. “I needed to find ten extra hours and mathematically it came to 3 minutes a day.”

Because of the added 3 minutes, students will have 5 early release days where they will get out at 1 o’clock and teachers will stay until 3 o’clock for professional development.

Some teachers say they don’t feel that the earlier start time of two minutes has affected them at all. “I actually prefer it,” says English teacher Tina Daponde. “I’m here early anyway.”

However, some students say they feel differently. “I honestly don’t know the exact start time of school now. I walk in and people are on their way to classes,” says senior Courtney Fudger.

Ippolito may be reached at [email protected]