Nervous freshmen filled the classrooms of Battle High School for the first Spartan Time of the year. Freshmen, and many other students, were shocked at the strict new policies from administration. Among the most controversial of these new policies are the Spartan 300 Challenge and the Tardy Sweeps immediately following every period. To reach The Spartan 300 goal students need to have less than 300 tardies a week.

To accomplish this, Battle has implemented Tardy Sweeps. During these Tardy Sweeps, any students in the halls after the bell rings will be “swept” by teachers and then escorted to the office. In the office they are given a punishment, ranging from a warning to after school detention.

Dr. Presko stresses that the more often people are on time to class, the more often they’re learning. When students are in class the graduation rate goes up. As motivation for students to be on time, administration has offered to allow students to vote on adding five minutes to their day as a reward. Spartans can start 5 minutes later, or get out 5 minutes earlier, or add an additional 5 minutes to our passing time throughout the day.

Mr. Corrigan, a teacher at Battle, says, “I like it more than I thought I would, it’s doing it’s job and cutting down on tardies.”

When Mr. Corrigan sweeps students in the Upper G Hall, he walks to the main hall and escorts tardy students to the office. He mentions that students were alarmed at first, but have now accepted the fact that they need to be in class on time.

“I’ve only swept two kids within the first three weeks of school and they haven’t resisted or had a negative attitude because they understand why they are being swept,” Mr. Corrigan says.

Elaine Miller, junior, thinks tardy sweeps are unfair because people who always do what they’re supposed to and slip up one time, such as their car not starting or talking with a teacher or using the bathroom, it creates unneeded consequences. She has never been swept and the sweeps don’t motivate her to get to class faster because she is already in class because she wants to learn about the subjects. Elaine also says that the reward is not worth it because no one cares about the extra 5 minutes.

Alexis Smith, a senior, says that she looks forward to the 5-minute reward and that’s what motivates her to get to class. She says, “I don’t feel like I’m in jail, it’s not that big of a deal for me.”