Tardy, truancy rules top list of policy changes

Danny Langhorne
Editor-in-Chief
As students dragged themselves back to school for the first day of classes it didn’t take them long to realize that everything about SBHS was not as they had left it in June. Among the changes was that SBHS has a new principal, Dr. Mark Capritto, to lead the faculty and ensure that students have a safe and educational learning environment.
The many administrative changes that have taken place have impacted the lives of SBHS students.
First and quite possibly the most notorious change on campus is the new policy on tardies and truancies. If students rack up five tardies in the same class they will receive four discipline hours. If they receive three cuts to the same class they will receive six discipline hours.
To clear discipline hours the administration may ask students to pick up trash at the end of lunch, after school, and on Saturdays.
Even more dangerous to students is if they receive ten tardies or five cuts they will also be in danger of failing the class and be assigned discipline hours.
One thing that left seniors in particular shouting out of their car windows was the administration’s decision to allow juniors to park in the senior lot. But due to outcry from senior class president Karl Sandrich and other members of the senior class the new policy was revoked; the senior lot parking lot is just for seniors.
“I convinced the principal that the seniors needed their own lot and it would be better for everyone,” said Karl Sandrich.
The condition on this change is that if there is any vandalism of cars belonging to juniors parked in the senior lot the senior parking lot will again be opened to juniors. Many members of the class of 2008 thought this a fair trade for not having to get to school a half-hour early just to find a parking space.
Changes in the bell schedule also bothered a lot of returning students. The fact that the two minute tardy warning bell is no longer in effect during passing period has definitely quickened the pace of students who must walk across campus to their next class and shortened the time that people have to talk to their friends in the hallway.
Another change was the shortening of the lunch period to only 35 minutes. This has not seemed to decrease the number of students driving downtown or hitting the pavement down to Milpas.
The addition of a late start at 9 a.m. almost every Wednesday was brought about due to the dropping of minimum days but the continuing need for a time in which teachers can conference. While many people just miss getting out early a couple times a month others are really faced with schedule problems. Students that are taking a zero period must attend the same as any other day at 7 a.m,. leaving an hour between their zero period and first period which starts at 9 a.m. Some of these students have coped with this space in between classes by making up home work or driving downtown for a late breakfast.
Even the structure of SBHS has changed during the summer. The four portables that sat the quad for the last couple of years were removed, leaving a barren, dusty, and fenced off wasteland. Also the bone-jarring rattle and noise of construction crews have left SBHS for the moment as the many elevators located around campus appear to be completed.