Jefferson-Morgan School District should reconsider the school’s attendance policy for its strictness and length. For example, according to the current attendance policy, missing over ten days without doctor’s slips would cause all missed assignments to become zeroes.

While it can be understood that the school needs some kind of strict factors to keep its students in order, the current ones set in place have gone a little overboard. Previously, it was possible to miss over the ten day limit slightly, usually by two to four days before getting a note from the school about it. This not only brings up one issue, but two; first of all, if the ten day limit was extended by a few days in the first place, then the boundary between missing too much or too little would have never of been crossed. Secondly, missing ten days of school is not enough for students who are prone to illnesses; not everybody is as resistant to germs as another, after all. Not everybody is able to go to the doctor’s office whenever they are sick, especially constantly; for example, their parent(s) could have work early in the morning on certain days, causing them to have no transportation to the doctor’s. Overall, this arises the big issue; the punishment for missing too many days consists of getting zeroes on all missed assignments. With both of these factors in play, it is rather difficult to remain in school, as is. But, alongside this huge punishment, it makes quite the issue.

Savannah Saesan, according to her interview, agrees that the new policy needs a change. “There should at least be some exceptions to the rules,” she said. Whenever she was asked about the limit of ten days, as stated earlier, her response was “If somebody has somebody else die and they don’t have days left, then they can’t be with their family, neither if there is a wedding.”

Saesan’s interview proved that the new attendance policy seems a bit too strict; some excuses for loss, tragedy, or sadness in the family that used to be accepted no longer count as if they were a doctor’s. A solution to this problem would consist of making the attendance policy a little more lenient to issues like these; to turn in a slip involving death in the family, a student could simply turn in the slip as if it were written by a parent with the name of the individual who passed, as death cannot be faked. As for tragedy, the severity can determine whether or not the day counts against the student after an evaluation or talk with the school counselor, even.

Braylee Pierce also thinks that the school’s attendance policy needs a change, according to her interview. “Students sometimes have reasons that they miss school that doesn’t deem as ‘an acceptable reason’,” she said. “The school only cares about attendance or how high you score on a test,” she seconded, after being asked whether or not the attendance policy seemed fair.

According to the poll given to the students of Jefferson-Morgan School District, approximately ninety percent of students agreed that the attendance policy is too strict and needed a change. According to the survey given to the students, all students had at least one negative factor that they wanted changed about the new attendance policy, as well. This means that ninety five percent of students (approximately) want some kind of change in the new policy, thus further proving the thoughts that Pierce had.

“It is unfair to students who have a legitimate reason to miss school,” said an anonymous taker of the survey. With this information, the strictness and unfairness of the new policy is truly defined again. Through both the survey and poll, students were able to express their attitude towards this ‘new policy’ – a negative one that needs change.

Overall, it can be beneficial to make the attendance policy a little more lenient whenever it comes to missing days or counting excuses. A solution that could be offered was actually used in the interview – whether or not parent’s excuses should count as doctor’s slips. If that seems inefficient, then more days can be added to policy, preventing these complaints from arising in the first place. After all, it is not just about the teachers or school but also the student’s thoughts.