The high school instituted new tardy rules and expectations this year in an effort to reduce the number of students arriving late to school, but tardiness persists.
The school considers students who are late to the first block of the day “late to school.” Students who arrive late to any other block are considered “late to class.”
Principal Eric Juli sent the updated rules via email to students Aug. 30. They were instituted in three phases throughout the month of September. Students who arrive late to school must enter the school through the lower cafeteria. Then, they wait in line for an adult to scan their ID into PowerSchool, which records the late arrival, and proceed with a pass to the first class of the day.
Students who are late to class must obtain a pass from an administrator or security guard in the hallways to enter class. Associate Principal James Dubsky said the district plans to add six mobile kiosks in the hallways to replace this system.
Dubsky said administrators plan to deal with tardiness case-by-case rather than impose a default punishment to every tardy student. “Unfortunately, as it relates to tardies, there’s not necessarily always a one size fits all kind of response,’” Dubsky said. “Really, what we’re trying to do is find out the numbers to determine, ‘Hey, what is it? Is it one kid missing a lot? Or is it a lot of kids missing a little?’ ”
Students who frequently arrive late to school must complete “tardy contracts,” according to Dubsky. These contracts include determining the cause of their tardiness, and putting steps in place to correct it, he said.
Late-to-class tardies are handled differently. Students who are late to class five times in one week are given an after-school detention, Dubsky said.
Tardy numbers remain high. According to Principal Eric Juli’s message in the Oct. 1 Weekly Roundup, 36 percent of students arrived late to school at least once during the week of Sept. 26. The same week, 23 percent of students arrived late more than once.
“Currently, 166 of our SHHS students (11%) across all grades, meet the requirements to be considered chronically absent. 454 students (30%) of the entire school are either trending towards chronic absenteeism or are nearly chronically absent,” Juli stated. A student is chronically absent if they miss 10 percent or more of their instructional time, for excused or unexcused reasons, according to the Ohio Department of Education.
“We also know that nationally, chronic absenteeism has doubled since the 2021-22 school year,” Juli stated in the message. “This isn’t a Shaker Heights High School problem. It’s a national issue that we have to address in ways that work for our students and families.”
“With 36% of our students arriving late to school just last week, we know this is a problem that cuts across grade levels, where a student lives in Shaker Heights, race, gender, and socio-economic status. We would like to know from you, what support we can offer your family to help your child get to school on time,” Juli stated.
The district does not bus high school students.
Juli stated, “Tardiness to school is a growing issue at Shaker Heights High School, and we need to find ways to address it together in support of all our students and families.”
