Beginning on May 6, a new late policy will be enforced through out the West Milford Township High School. To ensure the safety of the students, as soon as the bell rings to signal the beginning of class, classrooms will act as if in a shelter-in-place with the doors shut while teachers take attendance. Any students late reporting to class are required to report to the Highlander Refocus Center (HRC), to receive a late pass as well as a detention for being out in the halls without a pass.

Yellow passes are to be done away with and will be replaced by single-use salmon passes. No other hall passes written on the yellow passes or scrap paper with be valid from that date onward. All students must be on time to their classes, and students’ lunch and physical education periods will now be included in the new late policy process.
Many students feel that the new consequence for one late equaling one detention is too severe for this new policy. For the previous policy, three lates would result in one detention. This meant that if a student was genuinely late to class for reasons out of their control, there would be a cushion warning. Students who were continually late on purpose would then be disciplined. Now there is no warning, and many students may find themselves in detention for reasons they could not avoid in the short four minutes they have to rush to their classes every day.

The new system has been a major push for students to come to class in a timely fashion, which is a positive improvement to our school system here in West Milford, where students becoming excessively late to class was becoming an issue. However, the consequences may be a bit too strict in the eyes of the students, and a slight inconvenience for the teachers and staff, as filling out the new passes takes time away from class.