Submitted by Carol Cantrell, North Carolina

Idea posted June 3, 2004

In the case of persistent tardiness, I think it's a good idea to set up an informal record, keeping a running count of who is late, how many times they are late, and the number of minutes they are late. Use a simple chart of all classes with their appointed times and a series of blanks or squares. You simply check-off the punctual classes and you'd have a space to fill in the time for the tardy classes. Those people who are consistently and seriously late would quickly establish a pattern. Then, when you approach the principal for support, you have something concrete in your hand to indicate the seriousness of the problem. You could even do a little math application and indicate the percentage of academic time has been lost both for both music AND for the classroom subjects.