June 14, 2007
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Excused Absences
About 2,000 students may have to repeat their grade because of a new policy that has gotten tough on absenteeism. The Waterbury schools have a policy of not allowing students who have more than 19 absences to advance to the next grade.
The administration decided to get tough this year on absences. So they have a policy of retaining students who have 19 or more unexcused absences. The administration said that 19 absences is 10% of the school year.
Parents are trying to get doctor’s excuses at the end of the year. But the administration is not accepting them. They say that the excused absences are only granted if a student brings in the excuse right after the absence.
So they are retaining 2,000 of the 18,200 students. Here is the link: Link
Should a student be sent to the next grade if he/she has 19 unexcused absences?
Comments (139)
Shouldn’t the grades be more important?
NOPE!! That’s way to excessive. And I agree with the school. The excuse should have been given as soon as the student returned to school.
-shrugs-
I had perfect attendance…until college. lol
I think grades are more important. However, some people, they do well, even with many absences in classes, and for others, the grades are telling. I think grades and attendance goes hand-in-hand for some people…
If they learned the material and were able to get a passing grade, what difference does it make how many days they attended? The school is just unhappy they weren’t getting their money for having bodies in the seats.
Wow, 19 is a lot. Normally I would say yes, hold them back, rules are rules. But, you would think that holding 2000 students back for absences alone might over burden the school system.
Only if they fail too.
Grin.
if they fail too
but then again, 12 is the number at our school.
I would like to say that as long as they get good grades to let it go,but rules are rules and it is not fair to the ones who went to school and followed the rules.
I think 19 absences is a lot. There is no reason for that except in situations of an extreme nature.
I think grades are more important. However, some people, they do well, even with many absences in classes, and for others, the grades are telling. I think grades and attendance goes hand-in-hand for some people…
<LI class=itemtimestamp>6/14/2007 1:02 PM
<LI class=itemsubmitter>Femme003 (message)
I agree…
I don’t think that this is a bad idea. If one of my children is absent from school, I send a note in with them explaining their absence. If they miss more than 2 days in a row, then I need a note from the doctor.
Where is the problem with this?
no…
19 absences is alot brevard county schools give 9 per semester and there is no rollover but 9 per semester give you 1 day off every other week
Why don’t these kids just get it together and forge a note?
That would be the simple solution.
We only got 14 absences total or we couldn’t move on. They did let come in early/late or stay during lunch to make up the time.+
Why have 19 absences period? (if you do, for a medical reason etc, you should have an excusal anyways. Otherwise, you’re just skipping school, right?)
But not letting 1/9 of the student body move up seems dumb for the school. Doesn’t that mean next year classes will be more full, as they have a bunch of additional students retaking the grades with the new students?
It depends on what’s excused. If the kid is out of school, the parents should send a note with them after they get back. But I don’t like it when a teacher says there has to be a doctor’s note to prove someone was sick. I have to be deathly ill before I will go to a doctor. But if I have a fever and just don’t feel well, that’s not deathly ill, but I still shouldn’t be in school because I could make other students sick.
Wow. They’re going to hold people back from succeeding in LIFE over absences? They’re on a bit of a high horse, don’t you think?
Personally, I would transfer into another school. I missed a lot of days when I was in school, but I did well in my classes, so it was really of no consequence. If school had provided opportunities for me to learn that were up-to-speed with my level of intelligence, then I might not have missed so many classes! But, as it was, even with attending the highest level of advanced classes offered and completing some of my high school credits in middle school, I was still bored out of my mind. So I missed school and entertained myself otherwise!
It really depends on the grades of the student. If they are doing well (A’s, B’s) who gives a fuck, they’re learning!
Absolutely not. Apolicy like this is completely ridiculous.
Thanks Dan. I think this will work out for the best of everyone involved.
I’m with everyone here so far- the grades are much more important in determining one’s aptitude for moving to the next grade. I understand and respect the need for order and discipline should be taken against unneccesary absences, but not to this degree
It should be considered on a case to case basis. If the student does all the make up work and takes all the tests and whatever else he missed then pass them on. If you are going to be lazy and not do the work then you don’t pass. But passing/failing should be based only on your grades, not this BS.
only if they are willing to make up the 19+ days in summer school.
no, that’s stupid. being moved to the next grade should be based on grades, not how many absences you have. it’s quite possible to get A’s and B’s and miss a lot of school, or get F’s and not miss any school.
I wasn’t allowed that much cushion, so… NO!!! Then again, I went to 13yrs of Catholic private school. Go figure….
Oh, suck it up. The key word is unexcused. Yes, you should have to have a doctor’s note for missing school. 19 unexcused days is a lot.
I don’t think they should care how many absences as long as all of them are excused and the grades are good.
In my elementary school they wouldn’t let you pass if you where absent 12 times, excused or not. But of course, that’s isn’t highschool. (:
That’s ridiculous, I’ve missed way more than 19 days of school in one year and I was fine. None of them had to do with doctor’s, either, I was just not there because I didn’t feel like it. So I stayed home.
I think if it’s a combination of excessive absences AND poor grades, then they should be held back. But if a student can miss so many days and still be passing in their classes, then it shouldn’t matter.
♥
i missed a ton of school but always came away with good grades… if they’re going to take the rule seriously that they didn’t before- they should give some warning.
At my school, we could only get 6 a semester. And there was no talk of “excused” or “unexcused.” If you aren’t in class, you’re absent. It really sucked. Once you get 6 absences, the attendance committee meets and they look at whether your grades have suffered, or if you have doctor’s notes or anything.
I think it’s stupid, cuz I missed 6 days and the principal told me if I even went to the nurse’s office for one class, I could get suspended. But then the salutatorian of our class missed 10 days that semester, and didn’t get anything. The absences didn’t affect either of our grades, but I was the one who was spoken to. Yet another reason to be glad I’m free of that place.
Compared to my school, Waterbury is tame. But I still think they should take the grades into account before holding them back. Some people get sick really easily or have funerals to go to, and stuff like that.
My sister had that many.
the point of school is to attend and excel, if you’re not attending, you’re not excelling, so you shouldn’t be moving on.
sounds fair to me. I never screwed around……and others that did paid for it.
it depends on the reason for the absences. if the child has a dr.’s note for the absences, then they should be allowed to proceed to the next grade. some children suffer from illnesses that take them out of school and they should not be punished for something that isnt their fault. however, if the absences are unexcused and there is no note, then yes the child should be held back because he/she is not getting the education they need.
I think the most I missed in one school year was 12 1/2 days. That was my all time high.
To miss 19 days is almost a month and that’s missing a lot of subjects in class. I agree with the policy.
Thank God I go to college now. There was this Professional Writing class that I went to maybe 10 times the whole semester and still got an A
Who cares how many absences they have if they’re doing well in the class? Go by the grades.
But I was drunk and high my entire time through high school.
My math class had a discussion about this– yes. It doesn’t send the right message to allow kids to miss school that frequently regardless of how they perform academically. Even if a person performs fairly well in an employment situation, would his or her work shrug it off if they missed work so frequently? No.
no thats stupid…if the yhave good grades adn aren’t struggling because of those days then the school should let them pass
Oops, I mean that no, they should not be sent to the next grade.
that’s how it was at my school! only it was 25 — excused or unexcused.
Yeah.
That’s a lot of absences. You’d have to have a really low tolerance for pain to be out that much. If you’re out that much and you don’t have some sort of chronic illness or something, you should grow up. Cut down on the days that you’re out for just the sniffles and stop being a baby.
I like this policy.
And insertCLEVERERnamehere’s got it right by emphasizing unexcused. You should always, always get a doctor’s note or call in or something to excuse the absence when you’re out. Common sense.
If its a rule and you don’t abide by the rules – why should they be allowed to break the rules?
We have it set up 9 a semester (unexcused). They will only except a Dr.’s not at time of absence. This is only right. You need to be doing the right thing in the first place and you wont be having a problem later on….
That’s the absence policy they had in my high school., except it was 19 unexcused absences. If you had 19 excused absences, you were okay.
As long as he/she has the marks/grades, absence or presence should be irrelevant.
If they take summer school. But, the new rule about excused absences should be repealed.
I think it should depend on GPA. If you can pass and still miss 10% of the school year, then why should you have to repeat the grade?
Our school’s policy is going into effect next year…it’s going to be 16 absences, i think. 8 if it’s only a semester-long class. Doesn’t bother me. That oughtta teach ‘em.
I always miss a lot of school, but I retained a 3.8 GPA all year long. I don’t think it’s fair.
holy shit. that’s crazy. i’m glad i’m canadian. i hope that doesnt happen here because i miss about 50 days a school year. i’m not even exaggerating the number either.
♥ flyy_quotes
I think the policy is a good one… but I think it’s wrong to just come up with the rule at the end of the school year and enforce it with no warning. They should wait until next school year.
I think it depends on what kind of student the kid is. If the kid is actually doing quite well and is clearly ready for the next grade, then I don’t see why s/he should not be promoted. However, having that many unexcused absences, and barring some kind of emergency or possible problem in the home that could be the cause -basically make sure it’s hooky and not some serious problem – the kid should probably be sanctioned.
Yes but the district should require those students to make up the days during the summer in order to be promoted.
I think we need to bring back truency officers!!!
We were only allowed 10….5 per semester. I never had that many but I know for sure one of my friends had to repeat Freshmen English because he missed too many days in that one class!
I say, if you know the material, it doesn’t matter if you show up or not. I spent TONS of time in school wasting my life away because my teachers sucked and because let’s face it, most of the kids in my school were NOT there to learn. I read the lessons myself and typically finished my homework in class before the teacher was even done explaining the lesson. I didn’t need to go to school for probably 90% of the stuff I learned. If they can pass their classes with B’s or better then let them move on. If they have anything worse, they need to be in school.
again… that’s how they do it at my school already
haha. my district is one of the strictist. hahaaa
i think starting a new policy next year would be fine, but doing something after the fact like that is not fair. The parents obviously didn’t know that the students would be held back or they wouldn’t have let them miss that much. At our school its something like 36 absences or something, which is a LOT and most people don’t hit it, but if they have 35 and still pass the class then they are allowed to continue. Its the education that counts, not the attendance record. I for one don’t feel the need to attend classes that i already know the material in and i think thats how it should be.
I realize that grades are what’s important, but what kind of values does a child learn if they miss a lot of school and get to continue anyway? It’s not going to work that way when they start working. Most companies don’t even start you with that many personal days. Even when companies have sick days, they are sticklers about bringing in doctor notes when it’s more than two days in a row.
Yes I realize we’re talking kids here, but if you’re going to emphasize how kids these days aren’t learning and are slacking, then you need to start making them accountable at younger ages.
I’d rather they make summer school mandatory so that the missing days are made up in lieu of making them repeat the year.
We are talking about unexcused absences here. Meaning these dummies skipped school and didn’t take a note with them the next day. Yeah I guess I was crafty and wrote my own notes, but I’ll be damned if I was going to get an F for the day because I was out for whatever reason I had. I’m betting people don’t get F’s for unexcused absences anymore, because that would bring down their average anyway. But times change I guess.
Did they do away with Featured Content because of you? That’s the buzz going through the rumor mill since I’ve been back.
These are UNEXCUSED absences people. You know, skipping school…this policy is pretty much fine. It prevents the kids who don’t give a shit about school at succeeding and those of us who do care aren’t affected. And it’s getting them ready for the working world. You can’t just take off work and not have an excuse or it’s called getting FIRED!
At my high school there’s nothing to keep you back. Ever. Even if you fail every single class and miss half of school, you go onto the next grade. Advancement has nothing to do with your academic success. You end up with kids who are making up 30 of the required 46 credits in the last semester of their senior year because they didn’t make the connection between grades and success. The most irritating result of this was sitting in class, as a senior, with kids who do nothing but sit around and talk rather loudly about where and when they’re going to drink or smoke pot. Or being mocked and ridiculed because you actually do your schoolwork and participate in class. I wish my school had a policy like this.
In the article they mentioned a girl who only had 6 unexcused absences, but had over 60 other absences due to a broken ankle, knee surgery, and her father’s poor health. If she brought those notes all in at the end of the year, which I’m assuming is the case, I understand being suspicious, but if those doctor’s notes and documentations were brought in throughout the year and she still managed to meet graduation requirements despite all that crap, shouldn’t she be allowed to graduate and congratulated on striving through all that?
I think the biggest problem is that the school didn’t previously require notification of an excused absence within a reasonable time period. There was a huge uproar this year because parents either weren’t aware of the change or didn’t think the school would actually go through with it, but that’s their own fault. That being said, I don’t know if holding back 2,000 kids is a good idea logistically. I agree that they should do summer school instead and the advancement decision should be made at the end of the summer.
Adults sure wouldn’t keep their jobs long if they were sick that much. Maybe it is a good preparation for life!
If that had been the case in my 9th and 10th grade year, I would’ve been so screwed.
unexcused and excused are lax terms
no. As long as your grades are good and you know what you’re doing, why go to school? At least, that’s what I thought at the time.
I guess I still think that.
That’s kinda harsh,……what about summer school?
at my school, unexcused absences are punished by a 3% grade drop, per absence. I think it’s fair
The only thing that should matter is the knowledge they have demonstrated. That is usually done through grades. If they have the knowledge even if they missed 50% of the days then they should be passed. I would not object to a system that used the absences to aid in deciding the bubble cases such as a student who missed 19 days and had low D’s should be held back if the system usually requires F’s to hold them back.
I cannot fault the policy for requiring doctor’s notes to be turned in on return to school but their restriction to severe or chronic illnesses sounds to me like the school wants students in school unless they are literally on their death bed which is very unhealthy since there would be students who have contagious illnesses going to school so they don’t get held back even if they infect others and distract the learning process. I think that there should be a system for allowing family vacations such as requiring prior approval from teachers and principals. Also, if a student misses due to an illness or death in the family then there should be exceptions.
What I remember from my high school is that you could not have more than 6 or seven unexcused absences a year and there was also a limit on the number of excused absences you were allowed unless you had a doctor’s note. Excused absences were given with a parents note indicating that the student was sick the day they returned to school (doctor’s note was required if the absence was longer than 2 or 3 days)or by pre-approval for things such as school trips or family vacations. I recall the approval process needing to be completed ten days prior to the first day of absence and necessitating a plan for making up the work that would be missed for each class, with teacher’s signature, and the principals signature. The principal or teachers could deny the absence for any reason. Also, missing a single class in a day counted as an absence for the entire day and if you were more than five minutes late then it counted as an absence rather than a tardy. I believe there was also a limit on total absences of about 19 for the year including excused absences unless you had been hospitalized.
I never understood the policy when I was in high school but it never really mattered since I was almost never sick and my family never took trips during the school. There was not a problem with absences at my school since most parents might have physically beaten their kids for skipping school or for pretending to be sick when they weren’t.
No, because they’ve missed 10% of the teaching!
But I don’t think they should implement this new policy without giving parents a year’s warning in advance.
Grades are more important. Most definetely. Plus, there could be a valid excuse for absenteeism…sickness? Meh.
I would be fine with this policy as long as it applies to the teachers too. I had a teacher (college) who canceled class 15 times in one semester. She was still allowed to teach and be a department head. If you punish the students, you ought to punish teachers too.
I’m wondering if the students knew about the rule when they were absent each day, or was this sprung on them at the very end..and did the parents know too?
We were victims of this new policy this year (in Texas). My son was going for perfect attendance, making good grades, keeping his nose clean. His sin was he got the flu for a week in the fall and then had pneumonia in the spring. As much as he missed, he could have easily missed more. If he could sit up and didn’t have a fever, I sent him. Somehow, I missed that he had to have a written doctor’s excuse. We got a threatening “legal” letter from the state at one point that if he missed any more school, he could be held back or have to take summer school, etc. I was NOT happy. I think a lot of good kids who are not class-cutters are getting a bum rap.
No. 7 should be the max.
And here I was thinking grades were important. Well screw grades, as long as I show up I must learning something. Dillholes.
I hated high school, so I skipped classes all the time. Eventually it bit me in the ass. I agree with LightningRichy. If they do the work and got passing grade, let them go on. But if they’re like me, not giving a shit, wanting to drop out, failing every class, then hold them back. There may be more people dropping out cause honestly you can get diplomas faster,(not as good education though) and people might be more inclined to do that than stay at high school for another year.
If somebody missed that much work (after vacations and paid days off) wouldn’t they get fired? 19 seems pretty lax when you think about it.
If they made the grades let them make up the hours. That’s what we did. The only reason hours matter to schools is because of moneeeeeey.
Even though 19 days of unexcused absences is a lot, the parents should have been warned beforehand that they were cracking down on this. That’s not really fair.
Every school I have ever attended has had a similar policy.
Try to get a raise from your boss with a similar attendance record.
Sounds like the plan was well documented. They should stick to that plan and hold the kids back. Participation should figure into the grades.
This is another of those stupid rules that some bureaucrat thinks up. If the person can do the work, they should advance.
The schools get money for each kid in school…so it’s a good way for them to insure less absenteeism.
If they are passing. Especially if they have A’s.
(This year I missed 43 days and still have a 4.0 and in all honors classes)
19?
we get less than that…but we can go to saturday school and make up one day a saturday
If they can pass with missing that much of school, why not.
At our school, we can only miss 10 per full year- 5 a semester unexcused(Parent note) and 10 per year- 5 a semester with a doctor’s note. All other absences have to be certified by a hospital or the like. So 19 unexcused is pretty lenient compared.
shouldn’t their performance in class be more important than how many days they have missed?
our district allows 12 days per sermester. . .24 total. i know there is an appeal process too.
Teachers have gotten tricky. My English teacher wouldn’t let us make up anything unless we had a note.
But then again… in my school we have cut sheets so our teachers would know if we were absent or just cutting class.
But getting to the point, yes kids should be promoted a grade, unless they have missed waaayyy too much. Out of 180 days, 19 is too much? I guess raising it to 25 or something would be out of hand because that seems like too much, but as long as the kid is making up work and doing good in class, why shouldn’t they be promoted? How is it unfair to kids who have around 100% attendance? It’ll show them that they can take more days off next year as long as they keep up with work.
I missed 33 days of history class. I failed, but then again I wouldn’t have done work if I was there anyway.
Psh.
I wish our school let us have 19 absences. At our school, we can have no more than two unexcused absences or we automatically get a 69 average (F) for that grading period. An unexcused absence counts as anything that is not excused by a doctor’s note, including death of family/loved ones, inability to get to school (usually late buses), and puking your guts out (which makes you feel like crap but doesn’t necessitate a doctor’s visit; what could they do??)
19 sounds like a fair deal to me. If I missed 19 days, sure, they could hold me back. But three is ridiculous.
In High School we could only miss 18 days. Then we failed.
Christ. It’s something like 16 for my school. Crybabies should suck it up and go to school.
Actually, that’s just bitterness. The whole absentee thing is screwy; if you pass the class you should go to the next grade. It doesn’t matter how much you were there, only how much you learned.
I feel sorry for them because they are getting punished as an example and if i know schools they didnt tell the students at the beggining of the school year but at the end, so there is no way of helping the situation. In college there is a 75/25% policy (well, at all the private schools ive gone too). I say let the students passif they have done the work. The real issue here is that the school wants money and fundung, that is how schools get money – with how many students attends each day. I knwo this becaise when i was in public school we had one or two bad weather days when the busses brought all the studfents and we had to stay till 10:30 (the magic time for a school startiing at 7:30ish). Then we got to leave. another time there was a bomb threat and everyone had to stay to be “safe”{bull it was to make the student quota and get money)… well, thats my take.
Daniel (doubledb)
If they passed, then let them go. I was absent a lot in school because I was sick a lot. I didn’t really give a flying fuck if it was excused or not.
Probably not. Especially if they really were sick, and they still managed to maintain their grades.
Wow, I think my kid was absent 4 days this year. I think the new policy is great! Grades are important but so is being there [and I was the Queen of Truancy in my day!]
“Should a student be sent to the next grade if he/she has 19 unexcused absences?”
If their grades are sufficient, yes.
Detaining kids in their present grade due to 19 or more unexcused absences (1) doesn’t fit the crime and (2) is on too much of a delayed schedule (up to nearly a year in some cases) — since when is that combination a winning one?
There are alternative measures that could be more effective without further throwing kids off schedule.
yes. do you really think you could hold a job and just NOT SHOW UP 10% of the time?!
The grades seem like they should be more important. But 19 days? Come on, slacker.
xoxo
[abby]
They want actual doctor’s notes? Heck, I’d still be in the first grade if my school had required that. So now you have to go to the doctor for every cold and flu (and spread it around needlessly), when you could just be resting at home and getting better?
Absenteeism shouldn’t matter as much as grades. Why should an A student with absences have to repeat a year when a C student with perfect attendance doesn’t? It’s going to backfire. Kids will get bored and fed up and just drop out.
First of all there should be a participation grade in classes. If there is that many unexcused absences their grades will obviously suffer.
Second of all if kids who miss are getting all A’s and B’s then good for them.
Although I have to say I’ve seen schools that hold you back for 6 days unexcused, I don’t blame that place for holding them back over nineteen, that’s a lot!
well, is it one of those systems that are supposed to teach the student to make an effort to advance, including attending class? if you let the kid on to the next grade, it will teach them to just scrape on by with minimal effort, which will result in hell breaking loose when they are through college and into the working world.
maybe it’s supposed to teach responsibility. if that’s the case, then i don’t think the kids should be let through.
I agree with the school.
oh and I also wanted to add that the schools here that my child go to, after 14 they hold them back. So 19 isn’t bad at all. They give them more days then here.
its unacceptable to be absent that much. In my school they are even more leanent. If you have 21 i believe or more absences you are denied credit and you have to repeat the class in summer school or the following year. Why do people have to be absent that much? Is school that horriendus and they need to do more un helping things to their lives?
No! Educator speaking here! If they know the information that they need to advance to the next grade then what’s the problem? It’s just the system wanting control and wanting all the t’s crossed and i’s dotted. Is this the same system that says, “no celebrating during the graduation ceremony”?
if they pass all their classes then pass them. a genius doesnt have to attend school to know their stuff
in my college you have to go to 75% of the practical classes, otherwise you won’t be allowed to sit the exam at the end of the year. maybe they can try something like that…??
i don’t know where i stand on this. i agree that as long as the students pass the exam they shouldn’t have to repeat but i also agree that rules are rules. so… *shrugs*
I know a kid who has well up to 35-40, and he’s passing his classes, i think absences shouldnt matter as much if the kid is still passing. if the kids is struggling, then worry about him being at school.
my school did something like that except i think its less then 19. but its like if you miss too many in one class you dont get the credit for the class
UGH, the grades are more important.
Public schools are made with bull shit. x.x They always pull this stuff off, and it is retarded. If they got all A’s but they got 19 absents, then does it really matter?
cont’d from last comment
But if they got four D’s and one F, then wouldn’t they get held back because of their gades?
So, back to my point, does the absents really matter? (Unless they missed 100 days, yeah. There is an exeption for everything.)
Nope! The school is right. If this is a private school, then all power to them for enforcing this policy. There’s a failure among students and parents to be responsible, accountable, and commited to making choices that need to be made. 19 absences isn’t bad. I know of students who have had in excess of 30 abscences in just under two semesters. And by the way, if an employee had 10 abscences in a year, they would not be working for that company they work for. Schol is not only designed to give students an education, but it is designed hopefuly to prepare students for going to work. Yet, its all fun and games until there is money on the table.
10% was the policy at my school and what’s wrong with that? It’s the LAW that kids are in school whether they’ve got the grades or not.
If the kids passed the classes, the kids should go onto the next grade. hmmm… but what if the kid got an extra day to study for a test, or to do a project… I guess that ain’t fair. But then again, if the kid retook classes that he/she already did well in … he’ll blow the curve. hmm… what parent lets their kid miss 19 days of school anyways?
oh wait… unexcused absences. And the schools put the rule in place last year. shoot, keep the kids back a year. it’s their punishment.
I don’t see why a kid needs 19 UNexcused absenses. I think parents and admins are way too lenient on kids nowadays. I hear about parents taking vacations with kids mid-schoolyear. That’s stupid.
I went to school unless I needed to see a doctor or someone died.
If their grades are satisfactory, I don’t think they should be able to hold them back, on the other hand if the grades aren’t good then they should be held back
Not if the rules demand that they not miss that many.
I can see the little dears in the work force if they are allowed un-excused absences through school.
When are they going to learn responsibility? And why would any parent allow that many un-excused absences?
that’s bleeding rediculous. If you know the material, tehn you know the material. Only grades should matter, not absenses
That is on the border between freakin’ ridiculous, and totally awesome.
It’s the LAW that kids are in school whether they’ve got the grades or not.
OH, yeah, it’s the law now that kids have to go to school.
ha well this year i was abesnt 13 times, because i went on vacation for 5 days, and got sick.
but today i got a warning about my absences.
What about summer school? Why can’t those kids “make-up” those stupid days in summer? So, they miss a few days of summer. Big deal, at least they’ll get to graduate with the same class.
And sometimes schools, mine too, gives you a limit on excused absences too. You have only a certain amount of days that you can miss, excused or unexcused. So, one girl I know had major surgery and now her school is telling her that she will have to make up the days in summer school or she will fail. What a bunch of biotches!
this is a tricky one…..mainly because you are not allowed to send your kid to school with a fever, and they will send them home during the day if they are sick, and who goes ot the doctor everytime they have a fever or aren’t feeling well? number one, who can afford it, and number two, if you do the doctor’s start putting notes in your chart that your an overzealous parent……so it’s a double edged sword……19 is a lot, but it’s not out of the realm of possibilities
that depends on how they’re grades suffer because of them. being homeschooled, i never have to worry about this…but i think that the school is getting too concerned over being fair to everyone. hellooo…its school…its not supposed to be fair. lol. if you get good grades, you pass. if not…you dont. if you need a little help getting there, we’ll give it…if you want to suck at life because you never applied yourself in school. live with it.
At my high school, you didn’t get your diploma if you had more than thirty days absence, excused or unexcused. That translates to fifteen per year, since it was only juniors and seniors. And most professors at the college I’m attending now fail you if you miss more than three classes. So I really don’t think this is too bad.
Was the policy decided on and stated clearly at the beginning of the school year? If not, then they should wait to enact it until next year. If some of those students has legitimate absences but didn’t bring in their note for whatever reason, it seems unfair to enact this new rule retroactively on them.
Besides, if they pass all their classes and their final exams it shouldn’t matter how many absences you have, anyway. If you know the material, that’s what matters. Isn’t that the whole point of school– to learn?
Ahahahaha I live in Waterbury! Stupid kids!
Ok enough laughing… Trust me on this though: The vast majority of those kids were failing. And for anybody to fail in Waterbury schools is bad. My mother actually moved with my sister and I a town over so we could go to a more affluent school with a better curriculum. When I was in the school system I was getting straight A’s. The moment I moved I dropped down two letter grades because of how far behind the rest of the class I was.
If they can get the grades, then why should they have to relearn information. Why shouldn’t students be treated as they are in a lot of college classes, where they suddenly have freedom to choose whether or not they go to school? These tough rules don’t allow students to learn appropriate behaviors and are instead compelled to do things. When they are suddenly given freedom, they choose to not do what is right because they don’t have to. Let the students learn self-regulation or they will never be successful in college or in the real world.
As long as a student does their work, passes tests, and gets good grades, I don’t see why it matters if they miss 50 days of school.
Our school had a policy that if more than 5 days were missed per semester, we had an automatic F in the class even if we were an A student. I know that they only reason they do it is because they’re low on funding and they lose money for every day we miss.
I might’ve had more respect for the school board if they would’ve told us the truth of why they implimented the rule instead of faking that they actually care about us being in class to learn something.