A new attendance system was implemented at the beginning of the last school year, replacing the system of excused and unexcused absences.

The new system combines both of the absences together, so there are no excused absences anymore. Students are now allowed to have a total of 10 absences per semester with the two-year-old system.

Once a student reaches 15 absences, they are required to sign an attendance contract. Once they hit 20 absences, students face the possibility of expulsion from our school. With that being said, many students are now missing two full weeks worth of school because the new system allows them to.

This can cause a great number of problems which includes students having to make up a large amount of work.  A big problem affects teachers the most because they have to grade late assignments while having to accommodate the person that missed the lessons.

It’s one thing if a student is sick, and the absence is unavoidable. It’s another thing if a student decides to take a vacation because they “have the time.”

Toward the end of a semester, students often decide to take days off because they “have some left.”

One way to counteract this problem is to lower the number of absences students can have each semester.  In the workworld, 20 absences in 10 months would not be looked upon favorably.

If a student really needs that time for medical reasons, a note from a doctor would be able to tell the school that the absences are legitimate. As of now, many students’ absences are not that way.

A better attendance system could be implemented into our school and could greatly improve the system and make life easier for teachers who have to deal with students who are not in class.