By: Jadyn Johnson-Bowles
Bark! Voice of the Bulldogs
Staff Writer

Centennial administration has changed the tardy policy once more due to a continuing exponential rise in tardies.
Being late or tardiness is an epidemic that haunts all schools, but at Centennial, there has been a serious rise in tardiness. The policy used to be ten tardies before the suspension, but now it is three tardies before an in-house suspension.
“I think that only being allowed to have three tardies total before punishment is not ok. Some of us have to walk from the gym to the 900s. While people will try to say since we get five minutes of passing period that it should be more than enough time, but it isn’t. People like to loiter in the halls and talk and because our school has so many students, it slows down the whole flow of traffic. I get that in-house suspension will keep you from being tardy, but I think they should go back to it being ten tardies and then you get a punishment,” junior, Natalie Diaz said.
While most students are furious about the new policy, teachers claim that it is fair.
“I think it’s critical to have a tardy policy because students need to be aware of the consequences. In the real world for being late, you would get fired,” teacher, John Roberts said.
Some students argue that since three tardies can be accumulated in one day, the administration should change the policy to something more reasonable.
“I understand where they are coming from with the new rule, but I can get three tardies in one day just because people want to walk slowly in the halls. I think five tardies would be better because you can’t get that in one day so then teachers would know that something is actually going on and that the student didn’t just have a bad day,” junior, Darrah Simon said.
Despite most of the student body being outraged about the new policy, Principle Wipperman argues that it was necessary.
“Because many students weren’t going to class on time, I had to do something. Tardies are also a distraction to the entire class, which makes it hard to teach and learn. With this new policy, the number of tardies has already dropped. I don’t want to punish students, but something has to be done. There are consequences in society for being late, and I want the students to learn this,” Principal Wipperman said.
Tardiness is a problem that students need to get under control, and while the new policy may be upsetting, consequences need to be made.