Sunrise, coffee, and the sound of birds chirping. These are a few things that people enjoy waking up to. A three hour detention? Not so much.

During the long and exhausting minutes of first block in early January, many students were hand delivered three-hour detention slips from Vice Principal Mr. Jason Lilly and social studies teacher Mr. Ian Beitler, who assists with administrative duties.

The detention slips were a result of the recent enforcement of the preexisting tardy policy.

“It’s not a new policy; we are just enforcing what has existed,” Mr. Beitler said. “You are allowed ten tardies. After that, you will get disciplined.”

According to page 38 of the student handbook, being tardy is a Level 2 offense. But students are being punished with a three-hour detention, which is the repercussion for Level 3 offenses such as forgery, cutting class, lying, gambling, minor acts of vandalism, theft, destruction of personal/school property, hazing, possession of lighters or matches, cheating, and throwing food.

“I think that it is unfair that they are giving you a three-hour for something as little as being tardy a minute to class,”  junior Robyn Somers said. “This is equivalent to things like hazing, forgery, and bullying which are serious offenses.”

“Anytime you miss a day of school without an excuse, it’s cutting class,” Mr. Lilly said. “Ten tardies is equivalent to cutting class.”

But why now? Why not earlier? Before, students knew they could come in late to school because they would not get punished.

“We finally have the opportunity to enforce the school rules,” math teacher Mr. Matt Greenawald said. “Mr. Covelle was always swamped. Some things were missed, including the tardy policy.”

“Due to our new schedule…the problem started affecting more of our student body,” Mr. Beitler said. “Before they were just missing the announcements, now they’re missing instructional time.”

Several students are not happy with this enforcement due to the fact that most of their tardies are only one to three minutes past 7:40.

“I think that it is ridiculous that I have a three-hour detention when most of my lates are only by minutes,” senior Taylor Ziegler said. “I would be in my first period class everyday by 7:30 if it weren’t for the traffic entering the school parking lot. I would come earlier, but doors don’t open until 7:20 this year.”

“Now I can’t even go in early to my teachers to get help on work,” Ziegler continued. “Instead I leave my house at a prompt 7:10 and, depending on traffic, might not find a parking space until 7:40, the time when school starts.”

On the other hand, some students believe it is a fair enforcement no matter how many minutes you are late.

“If people are consistently two to three minutes late, [they should] wake up five to ten minutes earlier to get here on time,” junior Kevin McGinty said. “It’s ridiculous to be late ten times in one year.”

“We want kids to be on time so they’re not consistently missing instructional time in their first block,” Mr. Beitler said. “The students are going to say that they were only late two minutes or so, but we see it as how much cumulative instructional time is missed.”

“It seems like no big deal when it’s one to two minutes, but when it becomes habitual it adds up and becomes a serious issue,” Mr. Lilly said.

There was an overall negative response to the recent delivery of detentions from all grade levels.

“I think Mr. Covelle had a more sensible way for dealing with tardiness. Ten tardies are not nearly enough to be receiving a three-hour after school detention.” junior Julia Bergeman said. “If they want us to come on time, they should start school the same time they did last year. We sit in homeroom anyway; I don’t see what the point is.”

“These aren’t things that I’ve created; these are things that were here when I came into the school,” Mr. Lilly said. “I’m just trying to be fair and consistent with the policy.”

Other students are less upset about the detention and more upset with the fact that enforcement was unexpected by the student body due to the lack of enforcement in the past.

“It would’ve been nice to have gotten a warning that I was in trouble of getting a detention before actually getting one,” senior Maddie Kosce said.

The lesson to be learned is if you don’t want to endure a three-hour detention, don’t be late.