Cracking Down Schools Get Serious About Attendance And Tardiness

Wed., Sept. 4, 1996

Jennifer Hayes Gonzaga Prep

Having to wake up when the clock still shows only single digits may be the hardest part of going back to school. Waking up at 6:30 a.m. isn’t exactly fun, and if you get out of bed late, you start the day on the wrong foot.

This year, it could even get you kicked out of school.

Obviously, just because you’re late for school one day doesn’t mean you’ll be shopping for a new school, but the penalties for tardies and skipping are harsher than ever before.

At Lewis and Clark, students are getting used to a tough policy that started last year. Teachers lock the doors when the bell rings and - if you’re late - you have to go to a study hall for the hour.

“We had a lot of freedom the year before, so it was a big change,” said LC junior Anne Etter. “I’ve gotten used to it and accepted it, because I can’t change it.’

That’s pretty much the attitude needed to get by these days. Students who choose to skip class should know they will face serious consequences. Area schools are cracking down on skippers, and administrators mean business.

For example, Gonzaga Prep’s new attendance policy went from a very lax one to an overbearing one just over the summer. Last year you’d get an hour of detention (study hall) for unexcused absences. This year, if you’ve got five, you could be expelled.

Sure, you can appeal it, but how can you explain skipping just because you were tired or wanted a smoke?

And sometimes students miss school for very good reasons.

“Visiting colleges should be excused and it’s not,”said Lake City High School senior Lindsay Taggart of her school’s policy. “Then (the school) fluctuates between unexcused and excused absences for athletics.”

Many kids say attendance policies can be unfair because they aren’t always applied consistently. For example, one teen said her trip to a swim meet was an excused absence one year, but not the next. If there aren’t standard regulations and penalties, then the students can get confused and angry.

Taryn Hecker, a senior at Lakeland High, wrote a column in her school newspaper last year about her school’s attendance policy. She had to drag herself to school sick because she was in danger of losing credits if she had one more absence.

“Maybe I’m not too swift,” she wrote, “but last time I heard, illness is involuntary… Why should a student be held responsible for absence do to sickness?”

Hecker said the days she missed due to chicken pox were counted against her, even though she did her homework every day that she was gone.

To go to school or not go to school… it’s an unconscious (and sometimes conscious) decision that teens make 180 days a year. For those who choose to skip, there may be some big adjustments to make this year.

“People didn’t think the authorities were serious about it until the effects started hitting them,” said LC junior Aja Riley of last year’s crack-down. “Then they realized quickly they needed to shape up.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SCHOOL RULES Back to school rules are tougher than ever this year. Here’s how some area schools plan to handle truancies: Coeur d’Alene: Ranges from Saturday school to in-school suspension. This school even involves the county prosecutor’s office. Expulsion is a last resort. Ferris: Ferris doesn’t expel for truancies, instead examines each case individually using a process designed to keep students in class. Gonzaga Prep: First and second offenses, five-hour Saturday work service; third offense, three consecutive Saturdays of work; fourth offense, suspension; fifth offense, expulsion (appealable). Lakeland: First offense, student spends double the time skipped in isolation; second offense, parent conference and option of suspension or work service at school; third offense: suspension. Lewis and Clark: First and second offenses, automated calls home and a letter; third offense, three-day suspension or four-hour Saturday school; fourth offense, five-day suspension or 10 hours of community service; fifth offense, appeals board determines expulsion. Mead: First offense, letter home; second offense, two and a half hour study hall; third offense, four-hour Saturday school; fourth offense, suspension. - By Jennifer Hayes, G-Prep

This sidebar appeared with the story: SCHOOL RULES Back to school rules are tougher than ever this year. Here’s how some area schools plan to handle truancies: Coeur d’Alene: Ranges from Saturday school to in-school suspension. This school even involves the county prosecutor’s office. Expulsion is a last resort. Ferris: Ferris doesn’t expel for truancies, instead examines each case individually using a process designed to keep students in class. Gonzaga Prep: First and second offenses, five-hour Saturday work service; third offense, three consecutive Saturdays of work; fourth offense, suspension; fifth offense, expulsion (appealable). Lakeland: First offense, student spends double the time skipped in isolation; second offense, parent conference and option of suspension or work service at school; third offense: suspension. Lewis and Clark: First and second offenses, automated calls home and a letter; third offense, three-day suspension or four-hour Saturday school; fourth offense, five-day suspension or 10 hours of community service; fifth offense, appeals board determines expulsion. Mead: First offense, letter home; second offense, two and a half hour study hall; third offense, four-hour Saturday school; fourth offense, suspension. - By Jennifer Hayes, G-Prep

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