My house sits on Ridge Road in Northborough, three minutes from Algonquin, so twenty minutes should be enough time to beat the first period bell, right? Wrong.

Every morning I rush to leave my driveway at 7:00 a.m. to get through the daily traffic at the front entrance, park in the parking lot, and join the other overtired juniors and seniors, all with a coffee or tea in hand, hustling into the back entrance.

On an ordinary Wednesday morning, I was headed to G111 when I heard Assistant Principal Mel Laughton over the loudspeaker announcing, for the first time since I’ve been at ARHS, a one minute warning before the late bell.

As the bell rang, I turned onto G hallway only to be sent back to to the office by another assistant principal, Michele Tontodonato.

This began the long process of returning to the upper school office, waiting in line, and signing in late which ended up eating into my psychology lesson.

Being 15 seconds late to my double turned into 15 minutes of frustratingly waiting amongst the same juniors and seniors I straggled into the school with just three minutes earlier.

The pain of standing in an eight-mile long line into the office, reeking from a combination of hot chocolate and ice coffee, can simply be described as unbearable.

The late epidemic began with the elimination of homeroom at the beginning of the 2016 school year.
Homeroom was a great way for kids running a minute or two late to not miss any academic class time.

Punctuality at this school was not nearly as much of a problem in years past because of the short respite that homeroom provided at the beginning of each day.

An easy cure to the late epidemic would be to make the five minute period between 7:20 and 7:25 lenient for students. By lenient I mean that students should not officially be late until the bell rings at 7:25.

The majority of students would be in the building while the announcements are on from 7:20 to 7:25.

This five minute segment would improve the morning of every student because it provides a slight amount of time to settle in and prepare for the day. Students would not miss any class time because first period doesn’t officially start until 7:25.

I’m not trying to say that students shouldn’t be marked late; if a student arrives to class after 7:25 then send them down to the office to be marked late.

The policy at Algonquin needs to be changed and the solution to the problem needs to come fast before it’s too late, just like the rest of us.