(Nov. 22, 2011) — I am a senior with a bedtime, a bus pass and a pending ATS. The note sent by the office reads “No-Show Detention / Involvement: Perpetrator” along with gibberish that takes up too much word space on this article about how I was a “no show” at four lunch detentions. The original offense? “ID Card /Involvement: Perpetrator” when all I had done was missed my bus and taken a different one at my stop. Regardless, this year more than ever, it’s been enforced that students have their ID cards with them at all times, especially to ride the bus. Every morning, bus riders show their ID card, and if they don’t have it they are written up. A form is filled out that equates to an automatic lunch detention — without the grace of a warning — each time. I signed that I would have my ID card at all times when I complied to the school’s code of conduct at the beginning of the year (to undisclosed punishment). But what I did not sign was a paper saying that it was an offense to take a different Clark school bus at my bus stop if I should miss mine. There are three buses at my stop this year, and since my freshman year, it has never been an issue to take a different bus if it was absolutely necessary. No one was ever shamed or ticketed for coming to school instead of being stranded ten miles away from La Crescenta with no means of transportation, which would result in an absence. I wonder to myself if it’s even worth it to come to school when my bus leaves me in its dust at 7:20 a.m. In my past three years at Clark, I had always thought it best to come to school by any means, even if my absence would be excused. If it is a crime to come to school on a school bus as opposed to being absent, it’s a no-brainer to not come to school. But is that really what our school promotes? Not only does absence negatively affect a student’s education, it costs the school. A District spokesman said that for each day of attendance, the District provides Clark with $45.50 per present student. After missing my bus four times, I feel glad that I had simply taken the other bus (that had available seats) and not cost our school $182. I agree with the standard of having your ID, and with the exception of one morning, I’ve had mine with me every day. It’s an understandable rule that has some value to it in life — there are no exceptions to not having your driver’s license when you drive a car, for example. What I don’t understand though, is why it is a crime taken so seriously. What bothers me the most about this situation is that lunch detentions are now overpopulated with forgetful people who can’t seem to remember to put their ID in their bags while real “perpetrators” roam around the campus during lunch or even leave to get In-N-Out. At least three trouble makers in my CAD class have been sent to the office more than a handful of times and advised to drop the class by the teacher, but were merely let off with a lunch detention. How is repeatedly disrupting an entire class of 25 students and annoying the teacher considered equivalent to missing your bus or forgetting your ID card once? A clear defiance of authority, and not some impromptu rule about riding different buses, was also displayed while taking the panorama picture by a group of at least ten rude seniors (I use the term rude very lightly) in the presence of Mr. Dall, Ms. Kortoshian, Ms. Carlson, and the entire senior class. The disciplinary action there? Nothing. Not a single one of our administrators took any sort of disciplinary action at that time.That was the thanks the yearbook staff got after spending about an hour in the scorching sun, taping down a seating grid for the panorama picture that hangs so proudly in the hall across from the office. Clark’s mission statement reads that they want us to become “creative, critical, analytical, life long learners.” Most of my teachers and friends have embraced Clark’s mission, but when it comes to Clark’s lawmaking body and those who enforce it, the school’s priorities seem way out of line. If I am a “perpetrator” “involved” in a crime against the school where I am told that I am being done favors by “only” getting ATS and the selfish people who disrupt my education and school events are seen as more law-abiding, I will gladly take the title. But am I an unrealistic idealist for wanting to come to a welcoming environment when I come to school? I’ve always felt that schools should be an institutions where punishment isn’t peeled off a cookie cutter for very different situations. I wouldn’t even expect this if I was a thorn in the school’s side, but I feel like I give more back to school than I take from it. But then again, why should anyone care? I miss my school bus.