No child should lose class time because they arrived late — every minute counts, and our students deserve better.

Pontiac High School currently has a policy (that is not in the code of conduct book - the school Principal just decided to implement it for 2025 - 2026 school year. Not really knowing if it was approved by district leadership or the Board of Education. Parents should be demanding where their child will wait if they arrive after 7:15AM, they should demand who is responsible for supervising them. Pontiac High School principal Mrs. Clark-Franklin, stated: "I have also reached out to several local pastors to request volunteers to assist us with morning monitoring, as some students are being dropped off or getting off the bus but then walk into the community rather than entering the building." The Principal of Pontiac High School thinks it is ok to seek help from local pastors to obtain volunteers to assist with morning monitoring. Why not hire more security guards? Oakland County Sheriff's are always there in their vehicles (never outside) why not request more sheriff's to come assist? Why ask local pastors to seek volunteers to observe students being dropped off in the morning? This is not helping the situation. Once again, the District of Pontiac Schools are just reacting instead of planning and being strategic about this process, and they seem to not care about the safety of their students enough to hire or seek help from just anyone. You SHOULD CARE AS A PARENT who is supervising your child(ren).  

Parents, please stand up with me and demand change!

Students who are not inside between 6:40 a.m. and 7:15 a.m. are forced to wait outside until 8:15 a.m., missing critical instructional time — sometimes an entire hour of class. I am all for students doing their absolute best to arrive at school on time, however sometimes being tardy or late is out of their control therefore they should not be punished for coming a little bit past 7:15 AM

The school has claimed that this policy is working: they report a 36% decrease in first-hour failures compared to the first marking period of last school year and optimism that this adjustment will improve attendance and first-hour credit completion.

However, while this may show a numerical improvement in first-hour credits, it does not change the fact that students are still being denied access to education. Every minute in class matters, and students who are late for any reason — transportation delays, parents working early, family responsibilities, or simply waking up late — are still losing valuable learning time because of this policy. 

This approach punishes students instead of supporting them.
Locking students out does not prevent skipping in a meaningful way. It takes away opportunities to learn, increases frustration, and widens the gap for students who are already struggling. Academic success cannot happen if students are consistently denied access to classrooms. If Skipping is SOOOOOO important and they worry about that, just hire more security officers, or maybe we should be seeing Oakland County Sheriff's OUTSIDE of their car freezing JUST LIKE THE KIDS supervising morning drop off. 

We are asking the Pontiac High School community to take a stand and demand a better solution:

End the lockout policy immediately so students can enter the building regardless of arrival time.

Implement supportive measures for accountability that do not withhold education, such as supervised check-ins or targeted attendance interventions.

Ensure that every student has uninterrupted access to their classes, regardless of the circumstances that caused them to be late.

Parents, students, and community members: sign this petition if you believe every child deserves access to learning every day. No one should lose instructional time because of circumstances outside their control.

It’s time to prioritize education, fairness, and opportunity over rigid timing rules. Our students cannot afford to lose another minute.

Every student deserves access to their classroom — every day.

Sign this petition if you agree: Every student deserves access to learning, and no one should lose class time because of circumstances outside their control!!