Late Arrival/ Early Release

Many schools in the area allow seniors to have the privilege of arriving at school late and/or leaving early. This happens when they have many study halls throughout the day, including some during the first and last periods. When creating the schedule, the school has to make sure no senior classes occur at those times, so that they can schedule their study halls to work with this privilege. Recently, students at Lowellville have been hearing of this senior perk and pushing for it to be allowed next year.

To make sure this advantage is not abused, many agree the student should have to have good attendance, behavior, and grades, while maintaining the credits they need. Students also would have to have transportation arranged. Having late arrival/early release would reduce overcrowded studyhalls and seniors being stuck at school for 8 hours when they only have 3 or 4 classes.

Student Casey Gordan, “love(s) this idea.” He thinks the main deciding factor for what seniors are allowed should be “attendance, good behavior, and maybe a gpa requirement.” He thinks this will help fight the senioritis many seniors claim to have by shortening the day and making them more excited. “It’s going to give people an incentive to have good behavior, good attendance, and keep up good grades,” said Casey. He does, however, realize scheduling every senior to have first and last period studyhalls may be difficult.

Mrs. Kerpsack brings up a great point to late arrival/early release. She thinks it could be really beneficial to students who work. It would give them time to go to work earlier or get stuff done before work/activities that would otherwise have to wait until later that night. As someone who had this perk in her high school, she said, “Students had to have a 3.5 gpa, specific classes out of the way, a study hall that period, and had to be approved by both principals beforehand.” She thinks that these stipulations would have to be put in place in order for it to work.

While speaking with Mrs. Parry, she explained that while it can be a motivator for good behavior and attendance, it can possibly “affect athletic eligibility and a students ability to compete for college admissions by reducing their course load or level of academic rigor.” She acknowledges how this would allow seniors to not have to sit through numerous study halls. She also likes that this could give students who work the chance to start earlier. Although she likes the idea of this privilege, she is not sure if the pros outweigh the cons, let alone if it would be possible in such a small school.

Overall, late arrival/early dismissal is a popular idea among students, but staff seem to recognize more cons. If the privilege is not being abused, it could benefit students’ morale greatly. However, if students are not learning as much as they would need to, this would not be able to be implemented. Having late arrival/early release next year would improve seniors’ attendance, grades, and behavior. It would boost morale and decrease the common case of “senioritis.” Yet, it could become a problem if students are not learning enough or cause issues with athletic eligibility.