When it comes to excused absences and exclusion from final exemptions, there is a difference.
“You can have five parent excused absences. They have to write a note and it has to be presented within three days of the absence,” assistant principal Monte Thacker said. “I don’t know why that absence still counts against final exemptions, it was just made that way when the policy was implemented.”
A doctor’s note will excuse a student if the student is only gone for a few periods, and then returns. This absence will NOT be counted against final exemption. An absence WILL be counted against final exemption if a student is gone all day, even if the student returns with a doctor’s note.
“If [a student has] special circumstances regarding [their] absence, [they] have to take it up with the principal,” Thacker said. “The principal in the end can decide if the absence should be excused or unexcused.”
The current school policies were put into place to do what is best for the school, and people who want to change the way the school policies are implemented do not usually think of all the aspects of their idea, Thacker said.
Students should know they can fail a class that they made a 100 in if they fail to come to class 90 percent of the time.
“If a student does not like the way that the excused absence policy works, they would have to write a letter to the school board, and bring it to me,” principal Judy McDonald said. “I will then send it to the superintendent myself.”
McDonald said there was only a very small chance of a student being able to persuade the school board with their ideas. It is recommended that the student simply follows the rules.
“Students should just read the handbook,” Thacker said. “Please just get here; it does not seem fair that a student can fail after working so hard.”