Stamford Public Schools has enforced a brand new attendance policy for the 2016-2017 school year. The changes in this policy are unreasonable, as sometimes students have important reasons to be absent, but may not have the chance to appeal those absences if the board does not agree.

In the past, students were given seven general absences a quarter. If a student exceeded the quarterly allowance, or 28 for a full year, they had a chance to exempt these absences with documented notes for them. Now, students are only allowed 10 absences in a semester course, or 20 for a full year. This is a drastic change, as an entire week is cut off from the total, which is quite different from what the upperclassmen are used to. Sometimes we have personal situations that may not be considered appealable. As a student, it’s not always our fault, or choice, to be absent.This is going to negatively affect attendance numbers as some students are accustomed to using seven absences for family reasons, college visits, or even just sick days. Now that it’s only 10 a semester rather than 14, students will have trouble complying to these numbers and may exceed them.

Exempt, appealable, and unappealable absences have also changed. Now, only certain ones can be disregarded with a note.This has changed as there are certain situations that are not exempt anymore where in the past they may have been. For example, now college visits, appointments with guidance or social workers, short term illnesses and unscheduled visits to the nurse are not exempt. They need to be appealed in order to be disregarded. However, these are all important and legitimate reasons to miss school. The new policy does not agree though. This change is unreasonable, as students aren’t always trying to get out of class; sometimes we actually need to visit the nurse or stay home sick.

We all have days where we wake up sick, then feel better a day later. These “short term illnesses” should be exempt, not just appealable. If the appeals board does not agree to appeal it, it’s unfair as it’s a situation we can’t control. Unless a student is “playing hooky” and completely avoiding class, the above situations should be just as equal as the other excuses on the exempt list.

The one final change to the attendance policy that should be addressed is the rule behind tardies. As of this school year, students are now marked absent after being 15 minutes late to class, rather than the 20 minutes late in previous years. Either way, it’s uncalled for to consider a student absent if they attended a majority of the class. Missing 15 minutes of a 50 minute class is not the same as skipping a 50 minute class. There must be more effective ways to enforce attendance, rather than penalizing people for missing less than half of the class. At least they made an effort to come, and should only be counted tardy rather than completely absent if they still make up the work.

The new attendance policy may or may not succeed in improving Stamford’s attendance numbers. Personally though, I believe some of the changes are unfair. Yes, it should be a priority and requirement to be in school at all times, but under certain circumstances students do have legitimate reasons as to why they can’t make it and shouldn’t be penalized every time.

Between doctors’ appointments and trips to the guidance office, many of us exceeded our limit of seven absences per quarter. While the new attendance policy may allow for less absences, it is certainly more forgiving and definitely better than the previous one.

Previously, students automatically failed after receiving more than seven absences in a quarter. While the Board of Education thought they were encouraging students to be present in class at all times, in reality it was a threat to much of the student body. Even though we have less allowed absences (ten per semester), the new attendance policy will allow students to keep the grade they earned and instead lose the course credit. While losing course credit can be harmful for some students, it is much better than failing the course altogether, especially if you are considering going to college. Rather than seeing a huge “F” on your transcript, colleges will just see “LC” (loss of credit).

In addition, the administration will now acknowledge that you completed a course and will not make you retake it in order to move forward with the curriculum. For example, if you have too many absences and lose credit in Algebra I, you can still move on to Geometry the next year. This benefits many students because rather than being held back and wasting time to retake courses, the students will be able to advance in classes and not lose out because of absences that may not have even been their fault.

Another benefit to the new attendance policy is the new categorization of absences. There are, and always have been, three kinds of absences:

• Exempted absences are absences that are fully wiped from your record, as if they had never happened.
• Unexcused absences are those absences without a reason or have not been brought to the attention of the Dean of Students.
• Excused absences are absences that have been brought to the Dean of Students’ attention through a note/email from a parent.

However, excused absences still count against attendance records, making the process of excusing an absence unimportant to students. Previously, most absences were considered excused which only negatively affected students. These excused absences included doctors’ appointments, college orientations, and even trips to the nurse’s office. These were unavoidable scenarios, but rather than understanding, administration would simply turn the absences against students. Fortunately, the new attendance policy is more forgiving; almost everything (college visits, doctor’s appointments, short-term illnesses, student-initiated appointments) are either exempt or easily appealable. This benefits everyone because rather than having to stress out about receiving absences for simple trips to the nurse, we know that we won’t be penalized for something unavoidable.

So, while the new attendance policy allows for less absences, it also allows most absences to be exempt, thus making the new attendance policy clearly superior.