Principal Ryan Haroldson came into his new position with the intent of solving multiple schoolwide issues, the main one being student attendance. 

In an attempt at solving this issue, Haroldson met with Superintendent Amy Starzecki to draft a plan for a new policy. 

“I had a teacher meeting on January 20 and I took feedback from them (colleagues). I made adjustments to my draft based on what they said, and then I also met with the department chair,” Haroldson explained. 

Collectively, they came to the decision to implement a new, stricter policy. 

Previously, if a student was 15 minutes late, they were marked with an unverified absence. With the addition of the new policy, students who show up to class only five minutes late will be given an unverified absence for that hour.

“I think it’s just Spartan mentality. Spartans are punctual. They’re on time, and it’s what I want everyone to be able to carry over into all of the students: to be able to carry over into college, work, or whatever direction they want to go,” Haroldson said. 

In addition, Haroldson informed students that random “tardy sweeps” may occur. This means that on random days and times right as the bell marks the start of a class period, teachers will be asked to lock their doors, and any remaining tardy students left in the hallways will be brought to the PAC for a lesson on attendance. 

 “I was telling the freshman today, ‘Maybe we need to go to Dunkin Donuts a little earlier, so we’re still on time.’ Dunkin opens at 6:00am, I think we should have plenty of time,” Haroldson said. 

 In January, before the policy was in place, there were 2,178 tardies. When the policy was implemented, that number dropped to 1,341. The creation of the new attendance policy is intended to make school days more productive and peaceful.