Imagine this: you’re practically sprinting to your third period, which is on the opposite side of the school, on the fourth floor. You’re on the first, and as you’re trying to get there, you’re swallowed by a crowd of people and caught in stop-and-go traffic. 

All you can hear is the sound of distorted voices, laughing, screaming and hollering. You whip your head around on a swivel, realizing you don’t recognize a soul. You’re exasperated, gasping for air as you attempt to follow the herd. 

Then, the bell sounds. You’re late. 

An administrator comes over the intercom and in a loud, broken-up voice, announces the infamous return of tardy sweeps. Your heart drops. Even in your efforts to do the right thing, you are unrightfully punished. 

Tardy sweeps have been a hot topic among students, and not in the best way. As tardy sweeps return to our school, many students voice their displeasure over the consequences of being late to class.

“I think they are just annoying and serve no purpose other than to give kids detention. Some kids have classes all the way across the school, and with the hallway traffic getting to class can take a big chunk of time,”  junior Sam Gortva said.

There are many reasons why a student could be late for class that don’t include skipping or messing around. Also, with only a five-minute transition period from class to class, many students feel like the expectations are far too high. 

“It is really hard to get through the halls in the first place. So, the tardy sweeps honestly don’t make any sense. If we can’t get to the class in the first place, how are we going to get punished for that? There are just too many people in the halls,” senior Julian Siera said. 

The punishment for being late for a class is an hour-long detention after school. If students are late, teachers cannot permit them to go inside unless they come back with a tardy pass showing that they were caught and now have detention. 

“I feel that if you get a tardy, you shouldn’t get an automatic detention. That’s not fair. I think if you get three in a row or more, you should,” senior Jonathan Bunya said.

Tardy sweeps were ultimately designed to help fix an ongoing problem within the school. However, many have come to realize that there are other ways to help prevent students from being late. 

“I think that if they are so worried about people getting to class on time, they should make the time in between classes longer,” senior Matthew Given said.