A Look at the New Attendance Policy and its Effectiveness
This is a graph that shows daily average student attendance under the old and new policy for the first three months of the first semester.
Administrators claim the new exam-exemption policy is working as planned.
The policy, (which was instituted at the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year), states that students who miss class for any reason more than three times in a semester are not allowed to exempt final exams, unless they have a 93 average or above in that class.
Students have expressed differing opinions on the new policy. However, administrators are steadfast and point to the numbers.
According to Assistant Principal Darius Maize, 39 more students per average are at school this semester, than during the same months last year. This is about the same as an extra full classroom of students at school each day.
In the months of Aug, Sept and Oct, attendance was up one percent, two percent and three percent respectively.
Maize said an increase like this is anything but trivial.
“Those numbers represent actual people,” he said.
Some students said they feel pressured to come to school, regardless of how they are feeling.
“Kids are coming to school sick,” said freshman Morgan Young.
“I know students are having trouble,” said Administrative Assistant Peter Vajda, commenting on students who are struggling to keep their absences minimal.
“It’s an incentive,” said Vajda, “not a right.”
Maize defended the policy against the opinions of concerned students.
He said “there will always be people on the border,” meaning that if the administration were to excuse absences for sick students, the administration could be swamped with requests for excused absences.
Teachers, especially in the (STEM) department said that daily attendance is critical. STEM stands for Science, Technology Engineering and Math.
“It’s really hard to get caught up if you miss a day,” said math teacher Debra Tropauer.
However, STEM department chair Ellen Kerr said the teachers in her department “anecdotally” have reported a negligible change in attendance.
Maize said the administration was not aiming for a particular attendance goal.
“Our goal was for students to be more cognizant,” said Maize.
Assistant Principal Kim Premoli attributes these increases directly to the new policy. Additionally, she says teachers have informed her that fewer students are missing test days.
Premoli maintains that the effectiveness of the policy will truly become measurable come the second semester, when typically more students miss school.
Williams is a senior, and has been the sports editor for two years.
