The attendance policy at Bob Jones High School should be changed. This policy of which I write isn’t how many absences should be allowed or anything about the consequences of excused and unexcused absences. This has to do with tardiness, absences, and parent notes.

The attendance policy at the school states that lateness is the same as an absence.  Maybe not technically, but you need a parent note either way. Each time you are late, you need to use a parent note, just as you would for a full day’s absence. If you miss one of your four classes, it still requires a note. If you’re late and you need a note, just as an absence would require, it takes away a note so that you cannot use it if you are sick.  If you are late, it seems that you might as well not even show up for school, because you need to use one of your precious parent notes anyway.

Certainly, the best situation involves coming to school and being on time.  Chronic absenteeism in the United States public schools is an average five million to seven and a half million students. Too many absences also decrease academic performance. It has been proven that students do not perform well academically with too many absences. Absences can account for one-fourth of the gap in math achievement between poor students and those who are not poor students.

Parent notes should not be necessary for lateness, or attendance should be on a class-by-class basis.  This would encourage students who are out in the morning to return in the afternoon, and vice versa.

Some may disagree and claim that being absent for one or more classes is just as bad as being absent for all classes. I think that coming for at least one class still has educational value.

The Bob Jones High School Attendance Clerk, Mrs. Pruden stated, “We would like for kids to come to school, and there are other kinds of notes so you don’t have to use all of your parent notes.”

This works if you have parents who don’t mind taking you to the doctor for every headache and stomach virus, but it doesn’t work for the rest of us.