The first bell, marking the start of 1st Hour, rings at 8:28 a.m. All students are expected to be in their classrooms so teachers can mark them as present on Infinite Campus. But what happens to the students who haven’t entered the building yet?
Students who come in after the first bell are expected to ring the buzzer at the entrance and sign in at the Welcome Center. When individuals do that, they are automatically marked as absent-late on Infinite Campus. If students are in the building before the bell rings but are late for their first class, then they are marked tardy.
Absent-late is a code that administrators use to show that a particular student wasn’t here in the building until after 8:28 a.m.
Assistant Principal Colleen Fields said that this type of label is mandatory for the state of Missouri.
“The state of Missouri requires that we report, at a certain time, who is here in the building. So, if you’re running late and you come in and you sign in after the bell has rung, you’re assigned an ABLT, which is absent-late. We can’t tell the state that you were here because you weren’t physically here in the building,” Fields said.
Since absent-late is still considered a tardy, they will add to student’s tardy count.
If a student provides a doctor’s note as an excuse for being late to school, however, then they won’t be marked as absent-late but as absence excused.
“There is a code that we can use for excusing [students] because we have a doctor’s note provided,” Fields said.
On the other hand, a tardy is when a student is already present in the building but enters their class after it has started.
“If you’re in the building, and let’s say you go get something to eat and then the bell rings and then you go into your class, that’s considered tardy because you were already here in the building,” Fields said.
![In order to meet Federal Student Aid application deadlines, many local resources, including Lafayette counselors, are available for one-on-one meetings. Even if you think your college is paid for, we still heavily recommend going ahead and filing the FAFSA so that you dont lose out on any opportunities, College and Career counselor Alex Dusenberry said. A lot of four year universities say you can only get scholarships if you complete the FASFA. [Also], it is a requirement that you complete the FSA in order to get A+ credit.](https://lancerfeed.press/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/FAFSA-graphic-1.png)
