Shortridge High School late policy concerning to student’s mom
INDIANAPOLIS – As the holiday break approaches, Kenyatta Turner is hoping she gets some clarification on Shortridge High School’s late policy. She has questions because of something that happened this week.
“It was crazy because we were unaware. I didn’t get any notification that new policies were being put in place,” Turner said of the situation.
On Tuesday, she dropped her daughter off at school at 9 AM. She received a phone call nearly an hour later.
“It was just my daughter calling me and letting me know that she was actually stuck in the same place I left her.”
Turner says her daughter and many other students the school deemed late that day, were being held in the lobby area of the school. They were not allowed to go to their first block. When Turner came back to the school to ask why this was happening she received this response from one of the school administrators.
“We’re trying to teach them adulting skills to make sure they’re on time. Just like in any job, if you’re late, you lose your job. So, they got to learn to be able to make sure to come here and they’re on time.”
When Turner asked if her daughter getting to school at 9 AM was considered late, multiple people in the office chimed in to say yes. Turner says that answer runs afoul to school policy listed online. There’s a section dedicated to on time arrival. The first sentence says the following:
“In order to minimize disruptions to school-wide learning, students who arrive to school after 915 am without a parent/medical note or Indygo pass, will be held in the front office until the end of block 1.”
Turner believes since her daughter got to school at nine, she should have been allowed in class according to the school’s policy listed online. She says many of the other kids who were stuck in the lobby with her daughter were deemed late because their bus was delayed in getting them to school.
“I felt like it was wrong to hold the kids accountable for something they had no control over.”
As for the school administrator’s assertion this policy is teaching them to be better employees in the future, Turner responds with this.
“Teaching our children work ethics are teaching them how to complete an application or fill out a resume. It’s not leaving them in a hall or lobby area for over an hour.”
WRTV has reached out to IPS along with the Shortridge High School for clarification on this policy. As of this story being published, they have not gotten back to us.
Contact WRTV Reporter Cornelius Hocker at cornelius.hocker@wrtv.com, through his Facebook or Instagram.
