West High School is not bogged down with bad policies, but teachers and students agree that one of West's attendance policies does not fulfill its intent: "In order to attend class (following an absence), the student has to have a signed excusal slip from the attendance office."
According to the policy, if a student comes to class after an absence without an excusal slip from the attendance office, the teacher must send the student to the attendance office at the beginning of class to get a note. The intent of the policy is to make students responsible for their absences by making it mandatory to contact parents. But there are problems with how it works.Some other teachers agreed with history teacher Gary Smith, who said, "It interferes with education."
Only two out of 21 teachers interviewed for this story follow the policy, and it takes their students around 10 minutes to go to the attendance office and get a note. Most of these teachers agreed that the policy does not work. Teachers either "don't want to bother with all the paperwork," or as drama teacher Rett Neale said about its flaws, "I don't understand it."
Only four out of 20 students who were asked have ever heard of the policy, and all 20 students agree with student Braden Crockett, "That's the dumbest policy I've ever heard." These students think, if it were enforced, it would create too much of a hassle at the beginning of class for something as simple as paperwork.
"When the teachers send the students down to the office, they'll walk straight off campus," is how Jon Hong thinks the policy would just make the problem worse.
The majority of teachers interviewed have found a policy that better fulfills the intent of this flawed one. "I allow them to attend class, but I don't give them credit for their work," is how math teacher Christine Cannon solves the problem.
Many other teachers have found a similar solution. The common solution was to allow students to attend class if they don't bring a note but to make sure the students get the excusal notes by either not grading any of the student's work or using other grading penalties.
The West High students and teachers interviewed want a reformed and improved attendance policy.
Anthony Mahler is a student at West High School.