Every Child, Every Chance, Every Day
January 25, 2010 by Brian
Filed under Featured, Posts About The Franklin County Attendance Policy
The FCHS attendance policy says that for each class in which a student misses more than 5 times in a quarter, he gets an F on his report card.
Our issue with this has nothing to do with kids who skip school.
FC’s policy does not follow the guidelines established by the VA Board of Education for improving attendance.
Instead, it is a FC policy that no longer lets us as parents decide what is most advantageous for our kids.
The State of Virginia does NOT authorize school administrators to take away parental rights.
But the F.C. School Administrator has.
Unlike all the surrounding districts, FCHS only excuses absences for which there is documentation from a medical professional or officer of the court.
So they are telling you–Mom, if you feel your child is too sick to go to school and you don’t want him to spread his germs, only keep him home if you are willing to chance the F’s for all the classes.
And don’t even think of taking him out of town for your daughter’s graduation.
If your daughter is suspended for 10 days because she is attacked by a bully at school, she automatically fails all classes for the quarter.
What’s the difference between members of a traveling team missing classes compared to the high school team members who miss class? Shouldn’t they all be able to make up their work and get the grades they earned?
I have heard from so many who have faced these or similar situations and have had to face the administration alone. Moms and Dads who have done everything right but have been snubbed by the administration. They made no headway alone.
The school administration have taken the position that this is THEIR policy, they’re not going to change it and you can’t MAKE them even though we have presented them with a petition signed by over 600 parents, teachers and students who demand the policy be changed.
The administration decided to post signs at each school that say, “Failure is not an option” Now it needs to say, it is not an option, it is FCHS policy!
This policy really frustrates most of the great FC teachers. They work really hard to help the kids succeed and they watch the kids strive for good grades and then the administration forces them to give F’s because of something that every other school system excuses without consequence.
This policy should be of concern to our businessmen. It is teaching our kids that showing up is all that matters, not performance.
Also, if we applied this policy to the workplace, then every time an employee missed 6 days in a 45 day period, the employer would have to take back all their pay for that period. No adult would stand for such treatment, so why tolerate it for our children.
This policy has taken away parents’ rights, demeaning the efforts of teachers and teaching our children bad work standards. Everyone needs to call and let them know this is unacceptable. The policy must be changed to redefine unexcused and excused absences and to get them to leave us alone when we have excused absences.
“Marissa missed 5 minutes too much last year in a semester. So 20 bucks for Saturday school where she had no make-up work so she read a book. ridiculous!”
I think this policy is stupid. Last year the policy was 10 days per semester and it was changed to 5 days per 9 weeks which is crazy. I see these kids every day and I know they are going to school sick which is not right because they are spreading illnesses to other students. I also know of a student that was in the hospital and failed all his classes because of this policy. I am thankful my student will graduate this year and I won’t have to worry about him missing too many days and get an F for the whole 9 weeks.
Perhaps this would be a better policy to follow. It worked wonderfully at my school, and promotes decision-making, community awareness, and gives devoted students an edge. My school had 6 6-week marking periods a year, but this could easily be adjusted to a 12 week or 18 week term. I believe a 9 week program would give students 36 hours to miss (a total of 6 days) and 7 1/2 community hours to complete (a single Friday would cover that amount).
For every 6 weeks of school, a student can miss up to 24 hours (4 full days). Students attend regular classes four days a week, with perfect attendence on those days resulting in Friday off. On Friday, if the student had missed even an hour of school during the week, or was more than 10 minutes late to class (or wanted to attend on Friday) the student went on a school funded field trip to help their community in someway. Examples include: Clean trash off the side of the road, paint playground equipment, wash/ paint over graffiti, shop for clothes and toys for needy children at Christmas time, visit with senior citizens, etc. For the senior class, several fridays are set aside for optional college visits.
Community Fridays are worth credit hours for community service, which a student needs at least 5 of every 6 weeks. These hours could also be earned by independant community service at a church, school, or organization.
Perfect attendance (excluding Fridays) is rewarded with a “free” 1/4 credit, known as a Dedication credit. Honor Roll is also rewarded with a “free” 1/4 credit, known as a Performance credit. Attending school all 5 days a week for the entire six weeks is also rewarded with a “Community Service” 1/4 credit (in addition to the Dedication credit). These reward students who are dedicated, hardworking, and/ or positively contributing to their community with the ability to graduate early, which gives them an opportunity to make more money working, or earn college credits for that term by attending the local community college.
Students who miss more than 24 hours per 6 weeks attend Saturday school (for free) during which they have to write an essay about why they missed so much school that term, and how they can prevent doing so in the future, which is included in their permanant record (or so we were told…).
“Ashli missed onde class period too much because i have braces and i have to go to appointments on a regular basis so i had to pay $20 for administrators to babysit me for 4 hours while i read a book because i had no class work to make up and even if i did i wasent going to do it there.I hate the new policy and want it to go back to the old one”