After the Menlo administration saw an increase in students being late to class last semester, one of their focuses this year is to ensure that tardiness doesn’t get out of hand. Talk of a new tardy policy is prevalent on campus, but in reality, the policy isn’t new. According to Upper School Assistant Director Adam Gelb, instead of a new policy, the administration is trying to hold students accountable for the existing policy.
Gelb said that rather than instituting harsher punishments for students who violate the tardy policy, the administration is trying to “gently remind” students about better habits by having staff and faculty members on the quad and in the parking lot reminding students to be on time. Gelb also notes that students who are repeatedly late may be asked to come in for a talk with him.
However, students being late to class isn’t a new issue. Gelb has been told by teachers that, starting in the second semester of the 2022-23 school year and continuing into this year, some students have occasionally been coming in 15-30 minutes after class has started. Sometimes, students even come in with a cup of coffee from Starbucks or Coffeebar in hand.
Upper School Spanish teacher Alita Guzmán, who started teaching at Menlo last year, is disappointed by the tardiness trend. She believes that her students expect her to come into class ready to teach, but don’t hold themselves to the same standards as they do for her. Her hope is that her students will come to class on time, ready and prepared to learn. For Guzmán, it’s a matter of being respectful of both her and the other students. “[Being late to class] is a distraction that prevents other students, as well as the late student, from fully engaging,” Guzmán said.
In order to prepare students for life in college and beyond, administrators are now monitoring tardiness because they see habitual punctuality as a necessary skill down the road.
