Friday, January 26, 2007

ROAD TOWN, BVI: The main government operated Secondary School in the British Virgin Islands, the BVI High School, is to implement a new policy in February to address the issue of tardiness among students.

Principal of the BVI High School, Barbara Turnbull, says the school’s new policy, to come into effect Monday, February 5, is intended to minimise the large number of students arriving to school late.

Turnbull said that a survey conducted last term revealed that approximately 80 to 100 students were continuously arriving to school late. “When students continue to come to school and class late they lose a significant amount of class time,” she said.

She added, “The whole issue of speaking to students about tardiness is not new; we continuously speak to the students of the importance of being punctual.”

Turnbull said that even though they reiterate the importance of being on time there are students who are repeatedly tardy. “We have students who just ignore our instructions and therefore we need to implement measures that will cause them to stand up and pay attention,” she said.

The policy has two sections:

Section 1 addresses tardiness to school and stipulates that:

The gate will be closed at 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to students; Students with a written excuse from a parent will enter and issued a late pass; Students without an excuse will sign the late register and will be admitted to class at period 3; Parents will be notified by a written note about the student’s tardiness; Continued tardiness will result in a parent-student conference; After the third tardy, students will be required to perform community service on the campus after school for an entire week.

Section 2 addresses tardiness to class and stipulates that:

Students will not be admitted to class 5 minutes after the bell without a written excuse; Students will be required to stand outside the class and participate fully with the lesson. Documentation of students’ lateness will be taken by the subject teacher; After the third tardy, parents will be notified; If tardiness still continues students will be required to perform community service on the campus after school for an entire week.

Turnbull said that it is hoped that the new policy will address this irresponsible behaviour. “Irresponsible behaviour cannot forever be overlooked and condoned,” she said.

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