This year, North’s attendance policies have undergone some changes that have both shocked and upset the student body. Through a cacophony of booing about the new policy, most students failed to look at the rationality of the decision.
Each grade had a separate meeting — and the freshmen had one at their orientation — where the deans explained many important rules and procedures, including the changed attendance policy. When the new policy was presented to sophomores, juniors and seniors, various sounds of booing and complaints echoed from around the auditorium.
Under this new policy, students are allowed ten absences, unexcused or excused, before they will have a meeting to address their attendance and are placed on medical note only. There is a misconception that this is meant to be a punishment; its purpose is to ensure students are showing up and getting the best out of their education. It also does not mean students can never miss a day past these absences; it means that studentsneed to be intentional about whether theirabsences are excused or not past this point.
“I think this place [North] is amazing, and honestly, if you look at any of the data or the research, short term and long term, students being present in school, not just for the academics, but the skills that you learn in addition are going to carry you further and you tend to be more successful,” said Principal Shanna Lewis.
Acquiring ten absences means missing approximately 5% of the school year. One indicator of success for the D303 Board of Education is that all students maintain a 95% attendance rate. Last school year, only 43% of students achieved that success indicator, which translates to 813 out of 1,878 total students. Additionally, 26% of students were considered chronically absent, which is defined as a student who misses 10% or more of the school year— almost an entire month.
“Our attendance rate, or our absenteeism rate, is far higher than Geneva’s and Batavia’s, and Geneva and Batavia have much stricter policies than we have even right now. And so, I think it’s one of those things where we’re not looking to be strict necessarily, but looking to be effective,” said Andrew Herrera, Dean of Students.
Additionally, there will be no more pre-arranged absence forms. This change was made in order to make it clearer that vacations are unexcused absences, with or without a form.
“There was a perception that vacations were excused absences. And so it led to a lot of confusion, even though at the state level, vacations are unexcused absences,” said Rebecca LaPorta, assistant principal for Student Life.
Although many students were upset upon hearing the new policy, it will prove to be beneficial to our student body. A stricter attendance policy will force students to consider whether they should be missing school from day to day.
In the past, for example, a student could decide they didn’t want to go to school, and their parent could call them in for any excused reason. These days would never add up to any type of consequence other than the student missing important instructional time, whereas now, there is another reason to avoid missing too many days.
Furthermore, a strict policy on attendance now prepares students for the future. Jobs are not going to give the flexibility that students are given at school. If you don’t show up to work, there could be lots of consequences, including getting fired. Learning to show up and be on time now will help students transition into their future.
“When you guys get out in the real world, when it ends here and you get a job, you have to show up every day and on time, and there’s not a whole lot of excuses that are allowed. It teaches you discipline,” said Camille Keegan, administrative assistant for attendance.
Student attendance is also impacted drastically by how many days they miss in the first month of school. In a study done by the Baltimore Education Research Consortium, Linda S. Olsen reported that “students who missed two to four days in September were five times more likely than those who missed fewer than two days to be chronically absent for the year.”
Teenagers tend to dislike it when rules become stricter, consequences increase or when things are perceived to be less “fun” than before. This causes a narrow-minded view that makes them perceive something as bad before they even consider the benefits. If their attendance improves, their grades could go up, they could grow socially and emotionally, as well as many other benefits.
Even through the backlash received from students, the new attendance policy will prove to be a helpful and successful way to make sure students get the most out of their time at North. The choices and changes made are smart and reasonable. Let’s be rational — whether we like it or not, the new attendance policy is going to improve our school and benefit our students.
