...And You're Late Because?

One day I had an assignment at a middle school, where part of my duties was to sign in students in who were late for homeroom.

Growing up, the only time I was late was if I overslept, (which as rare since my mom mad sure I got up on time).  I figured, how many kids could possibly be late for school?

Umm... a lot

By the time the last home room bell rang, I was deluged by over 20 kids waiting for me to sign hall passes for homeroom, (the line was so long, I thought the kids were waiting for the next Twilight movie).

At first I began filling out the slips carefully, but because there so many kids, I had to write fast. Astonishingly, some of these kids became upset with me.  

Some kids were upset that I wasn’t writing fast enough (really!?!), while others were frustrated because I wrote their name wrong, (hey kid, blame your parent for your name, not me).  

The thing that was most shocking was that neither one of the two secretaries didn’t help me at all until one realized that I was completely overwhelmed and she reluctantly assisted me filling out hall passes.

There were a few kids who had their parents with them and they explained their child was late, but the rest of these kids didn’t have an excuse for their tardiness, (I later found out that most the tardy students are usually on school grounds before the bell rings, but they rather hang out with their friends than go to homeroom).

For kids who are late, they are sent to detention during lunch time.

The guy running the detention lunch hour was pretty tough, but I don’t think that he nor the detention was much of deterrent, especially since quite a few of the kids were tardy on a regular basis.

I think if you are tardy for homeroom more than three times, you don’t have detention for lunch, you actually have to help clean up during the lunch hour.  

This means sweeping the cafeteria, cleaning lunch tables and dumping trash.  

No child, especially during their puberty years, does not want to be seen cleaning up their peer’s Jell-O Pudding cups. Though embarrassing, this might be a way to make sure kids show up on time for school.

During your assignments, have you encountered kids being late for homeroom?

What did the school or teachers do to alleviate this problem?