If you are late to school at Stansbury High School in Utah, you are going to have to pay for it. Stansbury High School recently implemented a new policy for late students that will charge students money if they are late to class. That’s way harsh, don’t you think?

The school made an announcement last week that they will now issue tickets to kids who do not make it to class on time. A student will first receive a warning for being late. If they are caught again, they are going to have to pay. 

The second time they are late, they will have to pay a $3 fine. After that, the fee climbs up to $5. You can buy two sodas and a honey bun with that kind of dough! Rude. 

We will get to the students, but how do the parents feel about this new rule? The parents were not consulted about the new policy and they learned about it via email. This particular parent was confused at first. 

Jessica Marshall Warner, whose daughter is a junior at the school, told InsideEdition.com, “My initial reaction was kind of, ‘Is this serious? This doesn’t sound right.’ I had to read it twice to make sure.” 

That confusion quickly turned to anger. “Then I was angry. How can they implement something like this without having informed the parents first?” 

After all, they probably will be shelling out most of the money at the end of the day. 

She is not the only parent that has a problem with the news. 

“I think it's opening up a Pandora's box," parent Julie Rae said. "That's not going to fix the problem that they're facing."

Brett Dennison, also a parent at the school said, “I think the school board implemented this as part of a way to generate income, make a money grab out of the thing."

The email about the new policy was sent a week after the teens went back to school. There was no warning and no notice about the new policy before the email went out. 

“We began the year with multiple communication strategies to ensure that all students clearly understand the expectations for being on time and the potential consequences,” the email said.

The email talked about the new policy and asked parents for help. It also said that the school board had already approved all the fines.  

“I am still shocked that this was approved by the board," Marshall Warner said. "They should’ve approached the parents with this."

This new policy has left students angry, annoyed and also anxious. Not only can they get in trouble for being late, but now they will get a ticket. 

“My daughter suffers from anxiety; she’s a good student, she’s not loitering in the halls, but she’s very upset,” Marshall Warner said.

Marshall Warner spoke with Assistant Principal Cody Reutzel about the new policy, but when she was finished speaking with him, she was left with more questions than answers.

“I asked about excused tardies, are they going to get accosted in the hallways?” she said. “He said the students who are walking with a purpose toward class... will not be approached. He said [the policy] aimed toward a specific type of student.”

There are a few issues with this explanation. Won’t students just skip class if they are late and they know they are going to get a ticket? Skipping is free!

 “It may initially change the loitering in the hall but I think in the long run you’re going to see more absences in the class than tardies,” Marshall Warner said. “Teenagers are not stupid. They’ll think, 'I can go to class late and pay $3 or I can just skip class and pay nothing.' What would you do?”

"Also, if it’s ‘aimed toward a specific type of student’... it’s not applied universally. Now you’re opening yourself up to discrimination complaints,” she continued. 

If you are going to apply such a strict rule, you can’t just target some and not others. 

Also, we have to look at it from a financial standpoint. What if a student can’t afford the fine? 

“If the kid doesn’t have money, who is going to end up paying it? The parents. And if parents can’t afford it, then what?” she said. 

According to the school, If students can't pay the fines, they can take a lunch detention or they have the chance to show a clean tardy attendance record for a few weeks. 

There is a petition against the new policy that's currently circulating around the school. 

“They’re angry,” Marshall Warner said. “I do think the school had good intentions. I just don’t think it was thought through.”

According to school officials, only administrators will be able to issue the tickets and the money from the fines will go toward a fund for student incentives.

“What we're really trying to target is those periods between classes where really it's a choice," Assistant Principal Cody Reutzel said. "It's a personal decision of whether you're going to walk from class A to class B and be on time."

All the fun stuff happens when loitering in the halls! Stop trying to kill all the fun!