If Westside students are caught in the halls after the bell has rung, they have a good chance of being faced with what’s called a “tardy sweep”. This process involves staff stopping students who are late to class and administering punishments to them for being late.
Assistant Principal Tola Dada explained why administration decided to instill this new discipline.
“We noticed that after the bell, we have too many students that have not reached their destination whether it’s class, the courtyard, or an IMC,” Dada said. “We wanted to do something to encourage students to reach their location on time.”
The administration has no set schedule for this new process, and will assess when the school needs them as the year continues.
“We don’t have a set number that we’ll do,” Dada said. “We have done them randomly. Hopefully, students will see that they will be addressed if they are not in the right place at the right time.”
Dada believes that by doing this new process, students will learn an important life skill.
“Being on time is a life skill and it’s our hope that students learn the importance of being punctual,” Dada said.
Students have a different outlook on the disciplinary action, and the administration has recognized this.
“The response has been what you would expect,” Dada said. “Very few students like receiving consequences. Hopefully the students and teachers that are in class appreciate it because less people in the halls lead to less volume disturbing classes.”
Students have concerns with the effectiveness of the disciplinary action. Senior Chloe Moore recently had her first experience being tardy swept after coming back from being off campus.
“I got swept when I was on my way to Film and Lit,” Moore said. “I was coming from off campus, and had to walk far due to the lack of parking spots. The bell had rang, and maybe a minute or two later I was put into the activity gym. We all had to stand in there and waste our class time in line to talk to a teacher to let us go. We were watching a movie that day in class, and I ended up missing the first 10 minutes of the film because of the sweep.”
Moore believes that the process of being swept was unnecessarily drawn out.
“It was pointless to go in there because in the end I would have only missed a few minutes rather than 10,” Moore said.
Moore wishes that the administration would handle students being late differently.
“I think sweeps should not be a thing, and if someone is late to class just give them a tardy,” Moore said. “It is much more efficient and actually keeps students in class more.”
