Cutting it Close

The attendance rules for summer school are a bit different than for the regular school year. On a student's third absence, he/she is dropped from the class. And three tardies count as one absence.

But, the student only gets that tardy if he/she is more than 20 minutes late. (Classes are two hours long.)

I was back in the health class. I took roll, I got the class started on their assignment, and I settled in for the duration. At about 20 minutes into class, there was a knock on the door. A student had just arrived.

So, dilemma. He arrived at the 20 minute mark. Roughly. (Depending on which clock I looked at, he was either at 20 or 21 minutes late.) Mark him tardy or not?

While I was pondering this, one of his friends got to talking to him. What happened? He had overslept. But then when he arrived, the entrance he usually used was locked (they lock the gates while classes are in session), and he had to go all the way around...

Overhearing this, my decision was made. He'd have been earlier if the gate wasn't locked. He was trying his hardest to get to class as quickly as possible. I erased the "absent" and marked him present.

Five minutes later another student arrived. And two minutes after that a third showed up. Those two, they got the tardy.

Later, the boy asked me if I had marked him tardy. Or absent. I told him no. I know how important that is, even in the last week of summer school.

Summer school, and the summer school subfiles, is over. The last day of summer school was last Thursday. However, the continuation high school started their school year yesterday. (And I'm scheduled to work today.) So, the subbing stories will continue in August.