Peter Richardson
News & Politics Editor
When students returned to school this year, they were introduced to a new tardy policy.
As stated in the 2026-2027 Webster Groves High School Student Handbook, once a student obtains five tardies for all of their classes combined, their unit office will contact home and assign board approved consequences.
This differs from the tardy policy for the 2025-2026 school year which measured tardies on a per 6-week basis, instead of on a semester-long basis like the system in place this year. In addition to this change, this year’s tardy policy officially includes the language stating that any student that receives 10+ overall tardies may be prevented from attending school sanctioned events and extracurricular activities.
Assistant Principal Madeline Craig doesn’t believe this change will affect most students.
“Looking at our data from last year, I don’t think it’s going to impact the majority of the students because the majority of our students don’t get enough tardies in a semester that the shift from a progress report to a semester will have any impact,” Craig said. “There’s a small group of students, I say small, but about 15% of our students who have a lot more tardies than the rest of our student body.”
Assistant Principal Craig said that she encourages any student that is worried about their attendance to meet with their assistant principal or counselor.
