In a previous issue we did a story on the school’s tardy problem at the beginning of the semester at that time. This school year many changes have been made at Southeast, from our school population to an entire new admin team. But have these changes been effective?

Last year, during the first semester alone, there were a total of 25,751 tardies. With the new hall sweeps policy, that number has dropped by more than half.

“First semester, last year, the total number of tardies we had were 25,000 Plus tardies and this year we’re down to about 11,000 tardies. So you see a significant difference in the number of kids who are making it to class,” assistant principal Jamie Wetig said.

Most tardies accounted for were due to people not getting to school on time this, however, excludes bus riders.

“Seventy five percent of our tardies that we have any one day are students who just are not getting to school on time. And that doesn’t include buses. So, if you ride a bus, you’re not included in that tardy count,” Wetig said.

While the number of tardies has dropped significantly, other behavior numbers (such as write-ups, suspensions and expulsions) have remained the same. Wetig attributes this in part to the school board’s cell phone policy.

“If you take the cell phone referrals out, you will see the decrease in the number of referrals we had this semester by over 100. Right now, we’re down to about 70,” Wetig said.

The data charts for last semester show that since the new phone policy there has been a decline in other write-ups besides insubordination (under which cell phone usage would fall).

Now that the school has had success decreasing the number of tardies, the administration hopes to focus on academics.

“If the kid’s here every day and they’re doing the work and they’re not getting good grades, or they’re getting F’s and D’s on their own, what are we doing to figure out why? As long as the kids are giving the effort, I think we need to do more to figure out why are they not passing,” Wetig said.

Southeast is receiving praise from many other parties who have also felt a change in the school environment and students; helping us reach one step closer to our new legacy. “We hear from other staff in the district, we hear from other staff outside, in the suburbs people really are talking positively about SE High School. They’re talking positively about the students. They’re talking positively about the staff. I mean, it’s just a completely different environment.”