Getting to Zebulon Elementary School 45-minute earlier than last year used to be hard for seven-year-old Hailey Atkins.

She used to miss the bus and show up late.

But a new Tardy Busters program at the school changed all that.

Now, her mother sees that she gets to the bus stop on time.

In Tardy Busters, classrooms are given golden clocks for top attendance records. And the class that has the fewest tardies from Oct. 19 to Nov. 13, when the program ended last week, gets a party. The class that is the most improved also will get to celebrate with a party.

"It's been amazing to see how they try to win this golden clock," said the school guidance counselor Sharyn McCalla, who is the brains behind the program.

McCalla said tardies were at high of 128 the week the program started. They have been cut about 78 percent. Nicole Kovich's fourth-grade classroom took the prize for most improved by cutting their tardies from 22 the first week to 4 last week.

Kristin Leever's fifth grade class tied with Patricia Wilbourn's first graders last week for the fewest numbers of tardies. Both only had five tardies during the four-week period.

Students cheered as McCalla presented Kovach's class with one of the golden clocks the school purchased with a grant from Walmart.

The $1,000 grant paid for the clocks and will pay for the parties. McCalla said the school will use the remainder of the funds for other programs.

Ever since Wake County changed the start time from 8:30 to 7:45 a.m., parents have had difficulty getting their children to school on time, McCalla said.

This school year, Wendell and Zebulon Elementary Schools started earlier because of a later start time at East Wake High School and bus transportation patterns, McCalla said McCalla said the county moved the teenagers' start time later because research shows teens need more sleep and don't learn well early in the morning.

That posed a problem for the two elementary schools.

Wendell Elementary also has a tardy problem and is considering implementing its own tardy busters program, said Wendell Elementary School principal Winston Pierce.

McCalla said what's happened at Zebulon Elementary is a culture of positive peer pressure. Students are encouraging one another and their parents to get to school on time, she said.

"The parents have listened to their children's pleas," said McCalla. "It will help them start good habits. Being on time is a life skill. It's something you can use the rest of your life."