Attending to adhere

New attendance policy for seniors sparks change

Mia Brant brantmia000@hsestudents.org

Attendance for the class of 2023 has signi cantly worsened since previous years, with the number of unexcused absences doubling other grade levels during the rst semester according to Senior Academic Dean Nawla Williams. Williams thinks this could be due to many factors, one being the COVID-19 pandemic.

“COVID just changed a lot of us in di erent ways,” said Williams. “A lot of people just struggled to get back into the habit of coming to school every day,”

In the 20222023 attendance data obtained from Williams, the number of senior unexcused absences more than doubles the junior class, standing at 1329.78 absences during the rst semester compared to the juniors’ 662.74. An unexcused absence is any absence that has not been excused by a parent within 24 hours.

“I’m probably absent at least twice a month if not more than that,” said senior Jasmeen Kaur. “Most of the time I’m absent because I don’t feel well or I have something important to do during school hours.”

In response to the poor attendance numbers from the senior class, phase two of the attendance plan, #Attend2achieve, has begun this semester. e initiative started at the beginning of the year with phase one, focusing on targeted instruction (TI) attendance and reducing tardiness. Although TI attendance improved and tardiness lessened, unexcused absences worsened with Williams claiming that the numbers were the worst that they have been in four years.

“[ e deans] talked it over and we came up with this policy, and then depending on what it looks like this semester, we will roll it out for the whole school next year,” said Williams.

New parts of the policy state that a er accumulating four unexcused absences, students will have to serve one hour of intervention time, usually in the form of detention. e policy also says that in order for seniors to be in good attendance standing they need to have less than eight days of unexcused absences.

“As of now, this school year I am in good attendance standing,” said Kaur. “I would increase the number of unexcused absences from four because I feel like four is a pretty low number of absences. I think detention is also a form of punishment that is not really needed. A phone call to the student’s parents is better in my opinion.”

Kaur is not the only senior who would like a more lenient attendance policy. Senior Kai Broviak said she would extend the number of appropriate absences to eight days a semester instead of eight days a year.

“I’m afraid to take any days o even if I’m not feeling well,” said Broviak. “Last year I took more mental health days but this year I’m too afraid of getting behind in school.” e new policy also states that a er 12 class periods of unexcused absences, a parent meeting will take place and an attendance support plan will be created.

“We want you to re ect on how your unexcused absences a ect you and the others around you,” said Williams. “[Absences] even a ect your teachers and your family, believe it or not.”