Jupiter High School administration is cracking down on tardy students in the morning with a new set of rules. These rules came into effect Sept. 29.

The first time a student is late in the morning, their parking pass is temporarily taken. The second time, it is permanently taken.

“We have an overabundance of students that are coming in late,” Joe Lang, an administrator at JHS who oversees parking passes, said. “On contract, it was five tardies [for a pass to be revoked]. We’ll stick with that for second through seventh period, but for first period you get one free chance and after that, you don’t get it back.”

Before the rule change, the cut-off for tardies was 7:40 a.m.

“I arrived at school around 7:31 a.m. to 7:32 a.m, and when I arrived, they asked for my parking pass,” Ryan Durso, a JHS senior, said.

Durso’s tardy on Sept. 29 was his second this school year.

“[Lang] said to come to his office,” Durso said. “But I’ll get [the parking pass back] next Tuesday.”

Lang expressed the number of late students was worse than ever.

“In the past, the majority of our students got here on time. We had two or three that came in a little bit late in the parking lot; now it’s hundreds,” Lang said. “On [Sept. 29] we pulled fifteen [parking passes]. That’s good, and then today we pulled nine, so it’s getting better. Our goal is zero.”

Isabella Delahunty, Sergeant at Arms of Student Government and Jupiter High senior, arrived late on Sept. 30.

“This is my first time being late. They shouldn’t take my pass for a single time. They already had the rules in place, five [tardies] and then they take your [parking pass],” Isabella Delahunty said.

Delahunty credits Jupiter’s long car lines for her tardiness.

“I got in the line on Military, I was at the post office at 7:15 and I could not get through the line. I was going so freaking slow, that I didn’t even make it into the school by 7:30,” Delahunty said.

Students have criticized the severity of the new protocol.

“It’s very threatening, in a way, because they’re trying to scare students who only have one tardy who don’t deserve their parking passes taken away,” Peyton Shaw, a senior, said.

Lang made clear that he is planning to enforce the rule logically.

“We’re not going to be so horrible if we know that there’s an accident on Indiantown Road, you know, obviously we’ll change gears on that day,” Lang said. “But because the bridge is up or because you caught a train, you need to prepare for that.”