I keep in mind one of the vital coveted awards on the “Finish Of College” banquets was The Good Attendance Award. Some youngsters made it their major mission to not miss one minute of sophistication. Meaning no sick days, no lacking class for a health care provider’s appointment, meaning no taking part in hooky in any respect. For me, meaning no enjoyable, however hey, to every their very own.
My daughter is a month into Kindergarten and has already been dwelling three days due to sickness in order that dream is out the window for her. Plus, I’ll absolutely take her out of faculty for some enjoyable days and psychological well being days. She’s 5 years previous, in spite of everything! She doesn’t want the strain of attendance on her shoulders.
And whereas that is how I plan to mother or father her, that doesn’t appear to be the way in which faculties would really like me to do it. Most colleges have attendance insurance policies. When you miss a certain quantity of days, the varsity or district will ship a involved e mail, noting how essential being within the classroom is for a pupil’s studying expertise. And sure, lacking tons of faculty just isn’t nice for anybody, however the place is the road?
One mother wonders if her son’s faculty district has gone too far after docking him for actually lacking minutes of faculty.
On Threads, mother, trainer, and creator, Jackie Sullivan, requested her followers if she was within the unsuitable for considering that this was completely out of line.
“My son’s faculty district has an attendance coverage that penalizes you for lacking *minutes* of the day. When you go away an hour early for an appointment, you can be docked for that hour. How in tf are we supposed to show our youngsters that their private lives and bodily and psychological well being are essential with most of these guidelines?” she requested.
After her publish took off, a number of different mother and father threw their ideas into the ring, noting that this sort of attendance coverage didn’t appear regular.
“So ridiculous. My youngsters’ faculty is doing this attendance “problem” factor for September. It’s dumb. Children get sick. Physician and dentist appointment occur,” one consumer mentioned.
Others famous that the attendance strain may must do with faculty funding.
“In my state faculty funding is tied to attendance. I’m betting your little one’s faculty doesn’t wish to promote a poisonous work tradition they’re simply underfunded and making an attempt to maximise any monies they’ll get from the state,” one consumer wrote.
“I’m a former trainer and sure. It’s undoubtedly tied to funding. I assume my level is, it shouldn’t be,” the OP replied.
“It is setting them up for the company world,” one other wrote.
One consumer requested, “What’s their punishment for being docked? That is so ridiculous!”
“I’m not totally positive however they tally the minutes, hours, and days up and there are potential courtroom conditions. 🤷♀️,” the OP mentioned.
One consumer chimed in, “I’ve heard of colleges who enter all kids with attendance above a certain quantity (say 90%) right into a prize draw and one (or a number of) names are picked for a little bit prize (e.g. a present voucher). I do not thoughts that AS a lot as a result of it is not all high-attendance youngsters getting one thing. However I hate it when there is a exhausting cut-off that makes a really apparent us vs them AND the excessive attenders all get a large prize/deal with. It is so distasteful.”
First, these mother and father are right. College funding is tied to attendance. The ADA (Common Each day Attendance) is an important issue at school funding, because it straight hyperlinks pupil attendance to monetary assets and impacts academic applications and providers. Some states and faculty districts use funding formulation that take into account their ADA. Which means that faculties lose a portion of their funding for every day a pupil is absent. Thus the massive pushes for prime attendance numbers.
So, does faculty attendance actually matter? For essentially the most half, sure!
A 2007 examine younger kids discovered that absenteeism in kindergarten was related to damaging first-grade outcomes equivalent to better absenteeism in subsequent years and decrease achievement in studying, math, and basic information. For older youngsters, highschool dropouts have been discovered to exhibit a historical past of damaging behaviors, together with excessive ranges of absenteeism all through their childhood, at greater charges than highschool graduates.
