Tardy Round-up Here to Stay

Jennifer Hernandez, Staff Reporter

Many students were shocked to see the new tardy round-up program this 2022-23 school year at LEE High School. English teacher Ms. Amanda Towers has taken charge of rounding up stragglers in the hallways during lunch periods to prevent students from avoiding classes.

“There are consequences for ignoring the rules, you can’t hide, so after three-five tardies you get a detention,” Ms.Towers said. “These tardies get reported straight to the APs and after that you get ISS. And if you wind up getting ISS one day you cannot do any of your midterm or final exam exemptions.”

Round-up stations have been placed throughout the second floor of the main building. These stations consist of 2-3 teachers who take charge of clearing out the halls while one teacher stays at the table station checking in and writing up tardies for students.

Students who get caught during lunch periods will have their tardys put into a computer system which will be sent straight to administration who will then give out detentions.

Tardy round-ups have been brought back this school year due to the new safety protocols, the number of students skipping and the amount of hallway crowding.

“Last year, the hallways were insane in between classes, kids were always skipping, and lunches were the absolute worst, Ms. Towers said. “Now we still have an issue but the goal was that we were gonna expand to every class period but for now, we went for what needed the most attention first. Eventually it will be for every single class period unless people start catching on.”

The main building has a camera designed to capture every inch of the second floor. “There is no way to get around skipping,” said Ms.Towers. “Students hate it, that’s ok, rules are not meant to be loved just followed.”