When I’m met by an administrator in my English class each year to hear the boring speech about what not to wear, what not to smoke, and what else not to do, I never think the consequences could ever pertain to me. Maybe, the person in the back of the room smugly asking questions about Prop 215 (the state legislation legalizing medical marijuana), but never me.

This year however, I did a double take.

This school year, students are only allowed four free tardies per quarter. That means we aren’t even allowed one tardy a week. There are nine weeks in a quarter, 45 days and 270 class periods. Four tardies a quarter seems a little extreme to me, especially coming from a possible 36 free tardies the previous year.

There is no question that tardies are an ongoing problem at Northgate.

In the 2015-2016 school year, the tardy policy allowed four free tardies a week before a student got detention. I agree that this is probably too lenient but the solution to this easy policy is on the extreme side. Word has it the tardy tank was overflowing each week in the lecture hall, but I wouldn’t know; I wasn’t there.

This year’s tardy policy however, could potentially earn me an undesired spot in one of the small desks of the lecture hall. I’ve never liked the lecture hall; it brings back nightmares about failed trig tests. Aside from the fact that I’m rarely tardy, it’s not lost on me that this is an extreme penalty from a minor infraction.

Cutting it down to numbers, students are allowed to be tardy less than 1.5% of the time before serving a detention. Last year, it was over 13%.

I can’t vouch for other students, but I can certainly recall a time or two – or four or five – where a certain one – or two – of my teachers came rushing into the classroom after the bell rang.

Just imagine: a jammed locker, teacher holding a student after class, PE running late, overcrowded bathrooms, rainy-day traffic jam, face planting on the stairs, and all the possible “acceptable” reasons a student can be late. If this happens even once every two weeks, you’ve got a detention.

Choose your bathroom trips and jammed locker sessions wisely, otherwise before you know it, you may find yourself stuck in the lecture hall after school.