Principal Elena Ashburn has made changes to school policy with the start of the new school year.

  The most drastic change is in regards to the tardy policy. Previously, students received no consequences until they received their sixth tardy to class in one quarter.

  Ashburn has altered that policy to allow students only three tardies per quarter before consequences begin. After the fourth tardy the student receives after school detention, and this same punishment is applied for the fifth, sixth, and seventh tardies.

  After that, the student is given In-School Suspension for the eighth and ninth tardy and finally out-of-school suspension for the tenth tardy.

  After the tenth tardy the student’s tardies are reset.  The tardies are also reset for everyone at the end of every quarter.

  Ashburn has kept the incentive of five bonus points at the end of the quarter for students with no tardies, and seniors and juniors have the option of taking an extended lunch instead of the five bonus points.

  Ashburn has also added an incentive for attendance in general. If students have no unexcused absences for the entire quarter they earn another five bonus points that they can use for any class.

  When Ashburn arrived last year she met individually with every teacher at Broughton to hear their suggestions for the next school year. Ashburn asked the teachers what was working well, and what could be improved.

  The collective feedback that Ashburn received from staff suggested that Broughton needed to be more responsive to tardies by issuing less warnings.

  The collective feedback from staff also led Ashburn to add the incentive for attendance. Ashburn added the incentive to reward people for following the rules, while also making sure that students are trying to stay in school.

  “It’s hard to graduate if you’re not in class, and graduating is our number one goal for students,” Ashburn said.