Attendance Policy

 Attendance Policy 

 By Montana Wesley

 Husky Herald Report

 Good attendance at school is something that is necessary in order to have academic excellence and an understanding of what is happening at school. 

   However, the students at Port Huron Northern have not had the best track record of coming to school. 

   In recent years, students, especially seniors, made a habit of not coming to school at all when they didn’t feel like it, or sometimes ended up just skipping a class or two. One reason was a lack of serious consequences.

   However, this school year, the administrators are trying to put an end to the lack of attendance from some students. By implementing a new attendance policy that causes students to lose credit for their classes, administrators are hoping students will think twice about not attending their classes.

   The new attendance policy gives students only 11 absences, excused or unexcused, per class per semester, and if they go over these absences, they end up losing credit for whatever class it is in. This does not include absences that are excused by doctor’s notes, school businesses, or anything that has been pre-approved by whatever administrator is deemed appropriate. 

   In order to get back the credits that they are missing, students are to go in front of a panel of teachers, who are unknown at this point, and appeal. The teachers decide what it is the students must do to restore their lost credits. 

   Principal Mr. Mossett said the school needed a policy. “We had a similar policy years ago and that policy was changed to what we used to have and, quite honestly, kids weren't coming to school and that’s a problem. I think they were finding reasons not to come to school,” Mossett said.

   However, administrators tried their best to design a policy that would not hurt students. “We wanted to design a policy that would encourage kids to come to school. But for kids that have challenges that make it difficult for them to come, it would still allow for that, as well as kids that have a bad start to a semester with attending school can still have a chance to improve and receive credit,” said Mossett.

   Students have varying opinions on this new policy. Most students are against this policy, but there are some students who like this new policy. 

   Junior Nolan Michalik (‘21) has experienced both the new and old attendance policy. 

   “I don’t think it’s that bad of a thing; it encourages people to go to class. I don’t really miss that many days so it doesn't really affect me as much,” Michalik said.

    Aimee Radatz (‘20) feels that it is unfair that seniors in the past have been able to skip classes without consequences.

   “If it was my choice, I wouldn't make any changes to the policy. Seniors always miss a lot of days and it's unfair that our class is getting punished,” said Radatz.

   This new policy has many positives that can be beneficial and help combat attendance issues. However, it is inevitable that there will be some backlash or dislike from students.