MYTH: Students are allowed to leave campus if their teacher is more than 15 minutes late to class.

 STUDENTS SAY: Senior Justine Kang remembers a particular incident when she was a TA for a class of freshmen. She was outside the classroom among the other students, patiently waiting for her teacher’s arrival. However, a little over 10 minutes passed, and Kang had to usher the students back as they had started to leave while mentioning the “15 minute rule.”

“Many people looked for [the rule] in the [student] planner; it’s definitely not there,” Kang said.

 TEACHERS SAY: Literature teacher Vennessa Nava recalls a day when her students had to wait outside her classroom door because she forgot to call in a substitute, during a month of many absences. Remembering this time as “the strongest moment” of feeling the 15-minute rule exist on the MVHS campus, Nava said that although some of her students mentioned contemplating whether it would be appropriate to leave or not, they all stayed anyway.

“I find that students always talk about the myth, [but] none of them are gutsy enough to actually walk away,” Nava said.

 ADMINISTRATION SAYS: According to Administrative Assistant Diana Goularte, the “urban legend” has never been an actual policy adopted by the school. If a teacher on campus were to be late to class for 15 minutes or more, the main issue for the administration would be primarily a safety concern. She strongly recommends that if students land in this sort of situation, they either have a neighboring teacher or representative from their class immediately call the office.

THE VERDICT: Busted.