Redwood Has a Tardy Problem: What’s the Solution?

By Ayla Ozturk

In response to the school’s recent tardy issues, the Redwood administration team has implemented new policies to decrease the number of students late to class.

A bell two minutes before the final bell has been added to alert students to get to class quickly so they get to class on time.

In addition, students with more than twenty tardies or absences will not be allowed to leave campus or go to school sporting events. Their ID cards will be taken as well.

The policy also applies to students’ GPAs. Students with a GPA lower than 1.5 won’t be allowed to attend sporting events or leave campus.

Matt Shin, Redwood’s Principal, comments “Tardiness disrupts the learning for others, not just their [students] own learning. It’s a distraction and it’s also a bad habit.”

Shin says that administration is paying attention to “kids that are abusing the systems that are in place” and making sure that they address those kids individually.

“We might have some stricter rules for certain students that continue to violate the tardy policy or the out-of-class policy.” he states.

Alejandro Marroquin is one of Redwood’s Assistant Principals. He makes it a priority to connect with students.

He says, “I’ve always loved the teaching profession. I just, I feel like the relationships that I have with my students, it’s a two-way street, you know, and it’s authentic. When I feel a disconnect with the kids, I don’t feel like I’m doing my job.”

Marroquin says that the tardy policies were made with the best interests of students in mind.

He feels that Mr. Shin has done an “excellent job” in listening to teachers, having staff come together to figure out what’s best for students.

He thinks they did just that by bringing back the two-minute bell, having tough conversations with teachers, and making sure that they’re outside of their door welcoming students into the classroom.

He also mentions having tough conversations with teachers that are “having too lax of a bathroom policy”.

“When the two-minute bell rings, or right before the bell, they [staff] see them [students] taking a peek at their phone or their watch, and they’re starting to move. So I think we’re [as a school] going in the right direction.” he states.

Marroquin makes it a priority to empathize and connect with his students to understand their needs.

He can see how being restricted from going off-campus is frustrating, as some students need a break from work, peers on campus, and other things that can make school stressful. He can put himself “in their shoes”.

Marroquin feels that people with differing opinions would argue “Well, that’s what they [students] deserve”, “They got to curb that behavior” and “They have to hustle to get to class”. He sees these issues differently.

“I could just empathize with the kids how that can be tough at times, you know, to lose that privilege. And then sometimes something at school will overwhelm them that they’ll just be like, ‘Man, I wish I could just get off campus for lunch and just maybe just get a soda pop or a burrito and get out of here for a while’, you know?” he says.

Principal Shin has additional ideas to make the tardy policies more effective.

He says that taking students’ IDs away doesn’t always work because a lot of kids stay on campus to eat lunch. He also believes one of the next steps could be limiting when certain students can go use the restroom during class.

He wonders why students coming in late need to use the restroom, seeing as there is a 10 minute passing period and they have taken an “extended break”.

Another excuse he feels students use is they were coming from the Sierra Vista campus to the Main campus or vice-versa, as it takes more time compared to traveling on the same campus.

“There’s no way that it takes 20 minutes to come from Vista [short for the Sierra Vista campus] to Main [campus]” he says.

He can understand being one or two minutes late because of bridge traffic but when a student is 5 to 10 minutes late, he feels that is a choice.

Students will claim they had transportation issues, “We get that [transportation issues], we’re not going to punish kids for that. But your car can only break down so many times, you can only have a flat tire so many times.” Shin comments.

He thinks that students walking into a classroom late can be disruptive to the class because they distract students from the lesson. It stops the lesson because “they’re a distraction”.

Some students have difficulty paying attention and get distracted easily. Shin says that he has to think about those students having their education interrupted because of “sombody’s choice to stay late”.

Luckily, students will have the chance to redeem their tardies and earn their privileges back.

Shin says there might be a “Roving Rangers” list for those that like to “rove and be out of class”. They would be removed from said list if their behavior improves.

Shin reports that starting last weekend, students now have the opportunity to attend Saturday school to make up their tardies.

He also mentions having “contracts” with certain students and watching their behavior to see whether they can have those privledges back.

Students needed help adjusting from the pandemic schedule on Zoom to being back in person. According to Marroquin, this most likely contributed to the tardy problem.

“We forgot what it is the ins and outs of being at school, and I think students were the first representation of that, they didn’t have that urgency to get to class, and you can see it.” Marroquin states.

He adds, “We all needed a refresher of what it means to be at school, conduct ourselves appropriately, get to class, get to meetings on time, and kind of get away from the availability of a black screen, right?”

Another potential factor could be the fact that we aren’t past the COVID-19 pandemic yet. Marroquin says that returning to normal was a “struggle for all of us”.

On Thursday 10/21, students hosted an equity meeting. They feel that the new policies are unfair and wanted to voice their concerns to Redwood’s administration.

Marroquin says that he is always a “big proponent” of student-led committees and advocacy and is more than willing to attend.

“I would hope that they would welcome me there. That way I could provide any perspective I can and provide any resources that will help them achieve what they want.” he states.

As somebody who makes sure they stay connected with students, he wants to make sure students know that he advocates for students’ best interests.

“I welcome them [student advocacy committiees], and as long as I’m going to be here, I’ll always be a part of committees like that to make sure that we’re a better school and we’re the best in the city.” he expresses.

Both Marroquin and Shin work very hard alongside the rest of Redwood’s administration team.

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