Facing tardies and absences, many Bruins often find themselves balancing their schedules for school and their own lifestyle. As students reflected on their attendance experiences throughout the year, staff find consistent attendance to be valuable for student performance.

Attendance clerk Cindi Forster explained the varying attendance system from classroom to classroom. According to Forster, attendance rules exist to ensure students are abiding by them, leading to structure and discipline in a school setting.

“Each teacher is a little different. Some of them mark them tardy if they (students) are not sitting in their seats when the tardy bell rings,” Forster said. “It’s kind of the teacher’s discretion in how they handle that, and they should be letting students know what they expect of them.”

Forster believes student’s attendance is necessary, emphasizing how the students who are consistently being marked tardy not only impact themselves but affect other students present in the classroom.

“Coming late and walking into class disrupts the teacher’s teaching, which then disrupts the other students’ attention,” Forster said.

Additionally, there are various instances in which students are marked tardy for uncontrollable reasons, which can impact a student’s attendance record.

Sophomore Ina Wu noted that students may face issues that can be uncontrollable on a day-to-day basis that may impact their attendance. Wu advocated for empathy between staff and students.

“I definitely think it should be a case by case scenario,” Wu said. “You should have empathy, especially because you’re a teacher and you are dealing with students.”

Lead security guard Sharon Ratliff urged parents and students to reach out to administration if students are struggling with their attendance.

“We don’t know unless you (students) communicate with us what is going on,” Ratliff said.

Ratliff urged students to adhere to the established expectations in order to maintain a successful attendance record throughout school.

“I mean, you got to be on time to have a job. If you want to be able to keep your job, you are gonna have to show up on time,” Ratliff said. “School is the exact same way. It’s basically trying to teach you structure and discipline.”