INDIANAPOLIS — As the holiday break approaches, Kenyatta Turner hopes she gets some clarification on Shortridge High School's late policy.
She has questions because of the phone call she received an hour after she dropped her daughter off at school at 9 a.m. this week. Shortridge operates on a 9 a.m.-4 p.m. schedule.
"It was just my daughter calling me and letting me know that she was actually stuck in the same place I left her," Turner said.
Turner said her daughter and many other students the school deemed late that day were held in the school's lobby area.
"It was crazy because we were unaware. I didn't get any notification that new policies were being put in place," Turner said.
They were not allowed to go to their first block. When Turner came back to the school to ask why this happened, she received this response from one of the school administrators.
"We're trying to teach them adulting skills to make sure they're on time. Just like in any job, if you're late, you lose your job. So, they got to learn to be able to make sure to come here and they're on time," Turner said.
When Turner asked if her daughter getting to school at 9 a.m. was considered late, multiple people in the office chimed in to say yes.
Turner says that answer runs afoul to school policy listed online. There's a section dedicated to on time arrival. The first sentence says, "In order to minimize disruptions to school-wide learning, students who arrive to school after 9:15 a.m. without a parent/medical note or Indygo pass, will be held in the front office until the end of block 1."
Turner believes since her daughter got to school at 9 a.m., she should have been allowed in class according to the school's policy listed online.
She said many of the other kids who were stuck in the lobby with her daughter were deemed late because their bus was delayed in getting them to school.
"I felt like it was wrong to hold the kids accountable for something they had no control over," Turner said.
As for the school administrator's assertion this policy is teaching them to be better employees in the future, Turner responds with this.
"Teaching our children work ethics is teaching them how to complete an application or fill out a resume. It's not leaving them in a hall or lobby area for over an hour," she said.
WRTV has reached out to Indianapolis Public Schools, along with the Shortridge High School for clarification on this policy. As of this story being published, they have not responded.
Contact WRTV Reporter Cornelius Hocker at cornelius.hocker@wrtv.com, through his Facebook or Instagram.
