ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. — Currently, there are 23,000 kids registered in Alamance-Burlington Schools. In October, the district recorded 32,000 tardies. According to an ABSS spokesperson, that number does not include late bus arrivals.
The district said the tardiness stems from parents who drop off their kids late or students who drive themselves to school.
"Students are coming in too late in the mornings. It could be a mom or dad stopping off at a convenience store or fast food in the morning. The students will get to class 10 minutes late and that's what we're seeing a lot of across the district," spokesperson Les Atkins said.
ABSS said the uptick in tardiness forced them to take action district-wide.
"We saw a little bit of this at the end of last year, which prompted us to launch an Every Minute Matters campaign, which is sort of a PR campaign," Atkins said.
Turrentine Middle School said their start time is 8:30 a.m. Yet, recently, the principal has seen students trickling in well past that late bell.
"Our tardy bell rings at 8:30 a.m. We really want kids in their classrooms at 8:30 a.m.," Dr. Julie Hancock said.
She said it started with the car line and eventually got worse.
"We had an early crowd here the first few weeks of school. The line was formed very early and now we actually have a line that's about five minutes before the bell rings unloading students," Hancock said.
She said 10 minutes late every day amounts to nearly an hour of loss of instructional time a week. Which can impact the classroom as a whole including your child who arrived on time.
"I also think sometimes we don't realize how getting kids to school on time really helps teach commitment. It is also important that students understand how routines help them be successful," Hancock said.
Each Triad district has rules for tardiness that can turn into absences. Alamance-Burlington School System, Guilford County, and Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools policies note that 10 unexcused absences could lead to makeup class instruction.