I am a student at a school in North Augusta, SC, and I have been unfairly marked tardy on numerous occasions. This has led to unnecessary in-school suspensions (ISS), causing me to miss valuable hours of education. The attendance office did not ring the tardy bell at the correct time until November of 2023, yet those unjustified tardies remain on our PowerSchool records.

The system for marking attendance was only established in the last two months of 2023. Prior to this, students were lined up each day and marked tardy for being present before the usual bell time. This practice is not only unjust but also detrimental to students who strive for excellence but are penalized due to administrative failures.

This issue affects many students like me who have been disciplined with ISS due to these inaccurate records. In-school suspension can have negative impacts on academic performance by reducing instructional time and disrupting learning continuity. They also fail to inform students on the amount of tardies they have and students are told they have ISS or OSS but, they have never received a warning or the lunch detention. Students should be told about their future disciplinary actions at appropriate times. We have teachers and office staff that have the necessary information to tell the students about their attendance.

We call upon our school administration in North Augusta, SC, USA, to rectify this situation immediately by correcting our attendance records on PowerSchool and implementing an accurate system for marking tardiness that does not penalize punctual students unfairly.

Please sign this petition if you believe in fair treatment of students and accurate record-keeping practices within our schools.