Tardiness top discipline issue in District 118

If the specter of tardiness haunts Wauconda High School, the ghost is more like Casper than Bloody Mary.

But that doesn't mean the Wauconda Community Unit District 118 board doesn't want to play ghost-buster and eliminate it.

"This has been a point of discussion for a number years," district Superintendent Daniel Coles said at a meeting Thursday night in which the board laid out yearly goals for the district. "Student tardiness is our number one student discipline issue."

As one of its strategic goals for 2007-08, the board supported having a study committee research the district's tardiness policies and procedures.

Coles acknowledged that perhaps other schools in the country would be envious that the district's top discipline problem was so minor.

"I think they would love to say that their number one student issue is student tardiness," Coles said. "(But) it still needs to be addressed."

Wauconda High School Principal Daniel Klett said there were two kinds of tardiness, one at the start of school and another between class. He said both were concerns.

Board Vice President Deby Dato asked how recent construction at the high school affected students' timeliness. Dato said one of the board's goals with the recent overhaul was to ease hallway congestion.

"I'd like to know we at least helped in that area," she said.

Klett said not having to worry about bottlenecks in school hallways has improved tardiness statistics between classes, even though the students may have farther to go.

"Kids can move freely," Klett said. "There are multiple paths to go from point A to point B."