As a teacher or administrator you already know how important every minute of class time is for your students. When they are tardy for class it can affect that student and sometimes the class as a whole. Working to reduce the number of tardy students can improve your school’s culture and boost morale for both students and teachers.

Schools that have a clear and consistent tardy policy in place have shown to make better progress in lowering the number of tardies at their schools. (1).

When developing your tardy policy, think about how many tardies a student would need to earn before each consequence of the behavior. For instance, many schools use a three strikes policy if a student is tardy to class three or more times. The third tardy requires a consequence such as an after school or in school detention, or even a suspension or Saturday detention for those that are chronically tardy.

What are some of the consequences that have proved to reduce the number of students tardy to class?

1. Suspension (in school)
2. Parent conference
3. Student conference
4. Detention with a note sent home
5. Tracking tardiness by immediately notifying the parent (PerfectPass can send parents a text automatically!)
6. Providing a reward system to students that are not tardy

While a suspension may seem like a harsh consequence for being tardy to school, it has been known to be effective and may be a policy to consider once a student has reached a certain number of tardies (1).