The Stockton Unified School District has a policy that equates three unexecused tardies to one absence. The problem with this, is that students who are tardy are wrongfully disciplined. This policy is deeply flawed and it needs to be formally put to an end.

To protect students from this unjust district measure, the entire policy needs to be removed as soon as possible. There is no other way to ensure that students are not being targeted for wrongs that they did not commit. Is missing school awful? Yes. Is showing up late to school awful? Yes. However they are two different offenses and in no way should they be viewed on the same level. At the end of the day, this measure has to be abolished.

Parties who support this policy will say that students who are consistently tardy deserve this as a consequence, but this is totally untrue. When a student arrives at school, no matter the time, they should not be penalized as if they never showed up at all. A tardy student may end up receiving a truancy letter and have to deal with all of the same repercussions as a student that never goes to class just because of this rule. A decent student can have their record tarnished by these excessive “absences”. The fact that the student is punished for being absent when they are in fact present is ridiculous, strange, unfair, and completely outrageous.

All in all, this policy is ruining student records and must be gotten rid of. Members of the SUSD school board need to make this change happen for the greater good of all students.