Con

Every student has a unique attendance history, ranging from perfect attendance to several tardies and absences. Due to personal issues, my attendance doesn’t look very good, with numerous absences. However, I have a medical excuse, so I am more able to have more absences in my classes than other students. While not every student has the accommodations I have, it is unfair that they have to face different consequences than me.

The punishments are reinforced through clear disciplinary consequences, such as two lunch detentions or a day without your phone for having two unexcused absences in the same class. Although the no-phone policy can be helpful because without my biggest distraction, I can focus more on my classes and getting my work done. It is not an efficient way to fix the overall issue with absences. As for lunch detention rather than being incentive to go to class it gives students another reason to not what to be at school.

The most helpful response I have seen to the absence issue at GPN comes from the staff who deal with the attendance such as Mrs. Murawski or Mr. Johnson who values each individual’s effort and growth while still taking the time to understand students who struggle with attendance. Knowing you are cared for at school is more motivation to show up than any punishment. Instead of scaring kids into coming, each individual’s reason for absence should be addressed before facing consequences.

Pro

As a student whose biggest fear is missing a class unexcused, I believe that every repercussion for skipping class is well-deserved. Throughout high school, I have increasingly seen more students missing class with no excuses. While for them it may seem harmless, I understand the concern surrounding this due to the missed class discussions and work. Therefore, I support the school penalizing students before their absences and tardies catch up to them.

Being in class every day, I am constantly learning something new. Each class has material that missing would immediately overwhelm me and take multiple days to reteach myself. Unexpected absences are completely understandable, but it is when there is a consistent problem that I think it should be addressed due to the unreliable methods of making up work and playing catch up. 

With the recent switch in policies, I have already seen a positive impact on my peers. I found hall sweeps to be unfair and unjustifiable. They often would catch students who were rarely tardy and have the same repercussions on someone who constantly misses class. Along with this system being unfair, I also would hear continuous complaining about it with little positive response hence my support for more well-founded consequence policies. 

I think that the most effective new policy is taking students’ phones after two unexcused absences in the same class. This is specific to each student and each class which is beneficial in working towards a positive change. Since students are obsessed with phones, taking them is an impactful punishment to both inspire students to avoid skipping school, while  removing an unnecessary distraction from when they are in class.