David Heiller
Argus News Editor

The old Caledonia school attendance policy was beautiful in its simplicity.

In a nutshell, it stated that a student could have four excused absences per quarter.

It didnít matter what the reason. Could be bogus, could be entirely valid. But four times a quarter, or 16 times a year, a student could miss school, no questions asked.

Of course, he or she would be required to make up any work that was missed. (And it would certainly be a struggle for anyone who missed 16 days of school a year to receive a passing grade, which itself is an incentive for not missing that much school.)

When I first heard about this policy last fall, I thought it was way too liberal, and I still think 16 days is excessive. But then I talked to a teacher, and he said it had really made an improvement in the school. It took the onus off the teachers and administrators, who he felt had better things to do than be judge and jury to a student who missed school. It put the responsibility on the student, and on his or her parents.

Thatís when it made sense to me. School workers are always talking, and rightly so, about the importance of parenting in the success of students. Thatís the foundation upon which a person is built. Why not extend it to attendance?

But that changed at the June 21 school board meeting. The new policy now states that the school will determine what is an appropriate excuse for absence.

Hereís the key paragraph: ìParental consent alone is NOT sufficient for an absence to be excused. The school must deem the reason acceptable in order to excuse the reason.î (The emphasis is in the policy, not from me.)

Why the change? That still isnít clear to me. Caledonia administrators met with other local administrators and tried to adjust the Caledonia policy to be more in line with them. And there is a truancy law that states no more than three unexcused absences are allowed per year, which reinforces the notion that 16 absences is excessive.

But if it ainít broke . . . Why not adjust the number of four excused absences per quarter to two or three, and leave it at that?

Maybe this is a tempest in a teapot and nobody will complain. The school board sure didnít. And I wonít complain either, beyond this column, because my kids are out of school.

But when our kids were in school, Cindy and I had occasions that we felt were legitimate reasons for missing school that the school would not have agreed with. We faced a dilemma of either having an unexcused absence or being vague enough in our reason for the school to excuse it. Thatís close to the proverbial ìlittle white lie,î which bothered me. Why should we have to do that?

Itís preparation for the real world, you say? Maybe. Perhaps an unexcused absence equates to work without pay.

But you arenít forced to work at a certain place. Thatís your choice. Kids donít have that choice. They have to go to school.

Iím all for good attendance. But I think the old attendance policy had the potential to teach students more about responsibility than the new one ñ that is, if the parents are doing their job. And most parents are.

Keeping a journal?

One other thing that struck me as unrealistic with the attendance policy is that students now have to keep an educational journal when they go on vacation during the school year.

It sounds good on paper, but think about it. You are 12 years old, you go to Disney World, you are seeing amazing things, having the time of your life, enjoying your parents for a change. Then you go back to your hotel room every night and write down the things you learned that day?

Dumb. Thatís not why people go on vacation, and no parents I know are going to expect that of their kids.

Whatís going to happen is that kids wonít do it, and theyíll come home and put something bogus together, and everyone will give a wink and wonder what was the point.

Let students go on vacation ñ and have fun ñ and make up the school work that they missed. Thatís sufficient.

Two final comments

It will be important in making the new policy work to have good communication between principals and parents. I hope the principals are open to the concerns of parents and students, and vice versa.

Attendance policies are fluid things; they change. Donít be surprised if this one gets fine tuned some more.

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