I do not know Carol Duvall but I do applaud her efforts since I am a parent of a FCHS student! I am going to state MY facts of dealings with FCHS attendance policy!

I have a child with Asthma/Severe Allergies/IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and he has braces which requires frequent orthodontist visits! He had to attend 2 Saturday schools this past school year due to his absences! His absences were excused by his Medical Physician and his Orthodontist. I had to pay for doctor visits for allery infections just to get a doctor’s note for school ONLY to have the absences held against him! If his orthodontics appointments were early morning, he arrived later in school, WITH A NOTE FROM DENTIST, and was counted as ONE ABSENCE! Since the school was going to continue to count his dental appts as an absence, I kept him out of school for the entire day. I have to drive 35 miles one way to this school! Why should I take the gas and time to rush my child to school when he will be counted ABSENT no matter if he has a DR excuse or not? By the way, he made up all missed school work and carried an A/B average.

Enough about my own BAD experiences! FCHS Absentee policy is NOT fair to a good student, to a student with medical excuses, to a student with dental excuses, in general, to the average student. Just to clear up something, my son is an A/B student, who was absent with EXCUSES, and forced to attend TWO Saturday schools, back to back! Not to mention I, the parent, was forced to pay $20 per Saturday and the gas to drive him to and from school! Remember, I live 35 miles one way from FCHS! My child made up all missed work and when he attended the Saturday schools, he did not have school work to do because he had already made up his missed work, on HIS time, not the Teacher nor the Schools time! BUT, his math teacher was gracious enough to give him work sheets to “keep him busy” during the Saturday school time because that is a requirement as well!

Bottom line, EXCUSED ABSENCES should be just that…EXCUSED! I think medical doctors have the right to decide whether your child should be in school or not! I think a PARENT should have the right to decide if their sick child should be in school or not! I think the PARENT should have the say over THEIR own child PERIOD! If the parent is abusing the system and not forcing their children to school, then that’s when our Truancy system should step in. After all, that is THEIR JOB!

Carol Duvall, your work does not go unwarranted! Keep up the good work!

Comment by Michelle Corvin — July 16, 2010 @ 2:28 pm