Do you think that this school, should give students more time to get to school?
By cream97
@cream97 (29087)
United States
March 8, 2010 12:18pm CST
My son has to be in class by 7:45 a.m. And the teacher does not call roll until 8:15 a.m. Many students are walkers and the rest are car riders. They only have two buses that picks up the students. And these buses to my knowledge, is the designed for the disabled students. So, all of the rest of the students have to be picked up by car. Or they either have to walk to school. The attendance lady told me this morning that they get a lot of late students that get to school in the mornings. I was thinking that they should just give students until 8:15 a.m. to be to class. That will give the riders and car riders more time to get to school in the mornings. Since riding the school bus will be very reliable in getting a student on time, these students don't have to worry about being late, not unless there is a bus breakdown or delay in traffic. The attendance lady told me that the students have until 8:15 a.m. before they are marked tardy. But my son got to school at 8:06 a.m. So, she told my son to tell his teacher to mark him tardy, but he got to school before 8:15 a.m. That does not make any sense right there
. What do you think, should this school give the students more time to get to school?
. What do you think, should this school give the students more time to get to school?2 people like this
16 responses
@olisaur (1922)
• United States
8 Mar 10
I am 19 now, and I have always had a hard time with the time school starts. I also don't like how many schools' "drop off" system is worked (how students get dropped off by parents and by bus).
I've always thought school should start at 9- its the same time most parents goto work, so if they get dropped off, parents can go to work in the same trip.
1 person likes this
@cream97 (29087)
• United States
8 Mar 10
Hi, olisaur. I admit that this is more convenient for parents. I used to go to a Parent Child Workshop every month at my son's school and this program would start at 8:30 a.m. But I had to end up coming back to the school. I was not dressed to go to this activity by the time that I dropped my son off to school. So, I went home and got dressed. I only had less than 30 minutes to get there. I thought that this was not convenient for me at all. I wished that they had to push the time back to 9 a.m. This would have been better. I would have had enough time to go back home and get ready for this activity. I had to walk my son to school and that is why I felt like this time should have been pushed forward some.
@pastorkayte (2255)
• United States
9 Mar 10
Call the school and tell them that you were told that 8:15 was the late time and your son was marked late for being there before the tardy time. But tardy does not mean absent so it is really not a real big deal, just make the call, usually someone will fix that for you if it is a concern.
1 person likes this
@ronaldinu (12422)
• Malta
9 Mar 10
I am not seeing things clear here. At least it seems a bit odd how do you do things in your country! Your son is expected to be in class at 7.45am and his teachers reports in clss at 8.15am? Is the child left alone in class during this half an hour? Who is in charge of the whole class while the students are waiting for their teacher?
It does not make much sense to me! Our school starts at 8.00am. Students are expected to be in the assembly yard by 7.50am and lessons start at 8am sharp. Only those students who arrive past 8am are marked as late. I guess different schools have different approach.
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23465)
• United States
9 Mar 10
if roll call is 8:15,they should definetly not be marked late until then.
that's a bit ridiculous.
i think we had til 8:30 if memory serves..after that,we were marked tardy if no excuse given.
1 person likes this
@neildc (17239)
• Lapu-Lapu City, Philippines
9 Mar 10
I think what really matters here is what time the teachers come in. Whether the students come in earlier or tardy, teachers should give good example to them. Even in my daughter's school this thing is happening. So I told my daughter not to be late even if her teacher comes late.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Mar 10
Actually, when it comes to what time students get to school I don't think there should be any leniancy at all. That is the way that it is at my daughter's school and they will mark the kids tardy if the tardy bell rings and they have one foot in the door and the other hasn't made it over the threshhold yet. I think that if they are in the process of walking into the building when the bell rings that they should not be marked tardy, but if they are not yet on the property that marking them tardy is the right thing to do.
Trust me, I'm not trying to be the devil's advocate here because my daughter has plenty of tardies, but I think that promptness should be started early in a child's life.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
8 Mar 10
hi cream97 that teacher must not be able to tell time correctly 
and yes I think the same as you,in this modern time with so much traffic I would think the school could up the time to 8;20 myself as there could be a dozen reasons why kids cannot get there right at 7:45
and all of those reasons legitimate too. Lord thats early for a school, used to be 8 am. when I went to school and 8:20 was the cut off time as we lived a that time in 'South Dakota and in the winter it was not always easy to get through the snow quickly. a note aside, that woman may tell your son that but I do not think he needs to say a word to his teacher as he is there before the cut off time.
and yes I think the same as you,in this modern time with so much traffic I would think the school could up the time to 8;20 myself as there could be a dozen reasons why kids cannot get there right at 7:45
and all of those reasons legitimate too. Lord thats early for a school, used to be 8 am. when I went to school and 8:20 was the cut off time as we lived a that time in 'South Dakota and in the winter it was not always easy to get through the snow quickly. a note aside, that woman may tell your son that but I do not think he needs to say a word to his teacher as he is there before the cut off time.1 person likes this
@jahernandezrivas (11288)
• United States
8 Mar 10
Yes I do I think they need way more time because there aare so many students there it is hard to be on time. Have a good day.
@Detrox93 (106)
• United States
8 Mar 10
That seems a little weird that the school doesn't take attendance when the first bell rings. However, at my school there are a lot of tardies and they result in detentions. The best option is to go on-time, but I see there are obstacles. Maybe a carpool would work well. The school should start around 8:00 in my opinion, but it's not my choice. Good luck to you and your son.
1 person likes this
@sjvenden27 (1840)
• United States
8 Mar 10
Adding a couple minutes would not hurt the school or the students.. If role called doesn't happen until 8:15 then why should he be considered tardy? I can understand that the school has to fit a lot in one school day but whats a couple minutes... Stressing kids out that bad so soon in life is stupid.. They will only be kids for so long, they have the rest of their lives to be an adult.. If teachers need that half an hour to get the kids settled in for class, that is too long in my opinion... Sounds like the problem is the teachers and how they manage their class rooms.. Its their job to get students ready for the future.. also the parents but that's a different discussion.. School is a child's main jobs.. It would sound crazy if a work place demanded all of their employees to be to work an half an hour early just to sit around..
1 person likes this
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
8 Mar 10
Wow, that is an early start to the school day. We do not start until 9.00am here in Australia. 
I think that there should be a little more time given to the students to get there. Why do they need to get there half an hour before the role is called?
At my kids school, they are asked to be there by 8.45am, but if they do not get there until 9.00 or even later, they still do not get into trouble for it. Perhaps as they get into secondary school, the teachers may be a little stricter on that.
I think that there should be a little more time given to the students to get there. Why do they need to get there half an hour before the role is called?
At my kids school, they are asked to be there by 8.45am, but if they do not get there until 9.00 or even later, they still do not get into trouble for it. Perhaps as they get into secondary school, the teachers may be a little stricter on that. 
@KMaroon (266)
• India
9 Mar 10
Hi Cream
I think reaching school by 7.45 a.m. is very early, definitely the time has to be changed to 8.30 a.m. so that it would be easier for the children to reach the school in time. If the school management would arrange two more buses for the students other than handicapped children it would be helpful. Our children have to reach to school by 8.30 a.m. even though some children come late, and the late commers are punished, they have to run around the play ground 3 times and attend the classes. Have a nice day.
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (57319)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
8 Mar 10
I think thats more then a reasonable amount of time to get to school. Its more then other schools that state one time and that's it. When I was going to school, school started at 8 am sharp. No exceptions.
Since I was a day student, I was often excused when I had PE first thing in the morning. Because I would get to school, and have to run all the way across campus to get to my first class on time. Mind you, I may get there anywhere between ten minutes to two minutes before class offically started.
Students at this school are given half an hour to be in their seats which is more then reasonable for a school students have to commute to every single day.
1 person likes this
@dilipmiester (932)
• India
8 Mar 10
i dont think that they may give some extra time but they may allow students if tgey come a bit late because they are calling the roll only at 8:15 and all students coming to class till that time may me marked as present . but if the traffic in your city is that bad they could surely change the timing or else they can arrange some more school bus to overcome this .
@ayumitakashi (4462)
• United States
11 Mar 10
Well I really don't think that your son should have been marked tardy because he was early. I do think that they should be given more time. When I was in high school I had to take the train to get to my school and when it comes to transportation there is always something that goes wrong and causes delays especially in the train. I don't understan how some teachers don't understand that, when most of them themselves have to take the train. But yeah I do think that there should be more time given to the students because there will be problems that will arise.
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
9 Mar 10
I think it is a matter of discipline. 7;45 is not that early in the morning to be somewhere. A lot of people go to work by that time in the morning. If we were consistently late for our job we wouldn't ask them to change the start time, we would recalculate our time to prepare. It's better to teach the students to get up 15 minutes early each morning to be on time. It's a life skill that needs to be taught. This will help them grow up into responsible adults.
