School absences can cause problems

By MALLORY BUETOW

The Mirror reporter

School is hard enough but missing school is even worse.

The Department of Education reports that everyday an average of 62,000 students miss school. Research has shown that seven and a half million students miss over a month of school every year in the United States of America. Around 100 students are absent each day at Stevens Point Area Senior High.

Missing school is not always an easy decision.

“Often times I find myself going to school even though I don’t feel the best because of the amount of homework and classes I’ll miss,” Katie Hojnacki said. “I have to figure out beforehand what I would be missing if I miss school and I usually end up going to school. Based on the amount of homework I get on a daily basis, missing school affects my academics because of the workload that builds up.”

Missing school can lead to academic failures, dropping out of high school and truancy problems. Some students may have an increase in stress and others may be able to catch up with missing work in little to no time.

“Since I tend to be an organized and conscientious student, missing school does not usually have an adverse effect upon my performance,” Mary McDonald said but “it does add more stress than I would otherwise have.”

Vacations, sickness, sports, weddings, funerals and other reasons are all events that affect the rising rate of absences. The biggest conflict between schools and families are vacations.

Every school has their own policies and circumstances for excusing students. Some may say only up to five days of school missed for vacation is alright and others may have non-negotiable attendance rules and regulations.

Vacation policy at SPASH requires the student to show a note about what days they will miss. This allows the student to ask their teachers ahead of time about what they will miss.

“I think that cultural exploration is crucial for becoming a more understanding and well-rounded person,” Genesis Yang said. “I get the opportunity to travel often and it has taught me so much about who I am and how others live around the world.  Some trips are once in a lifetime and I think it’s more than okay to put school on hold to take advantage of these opportunities.”

Absences do not only affect students but they also affect the teacher, too.

“We all have a procedure for handling absence (see the file located in the classroom, ask a neighbor, check Schoology, etc.),” SPASH teacher Paula Perron said. “It is a lot of work getting work ready for students to be absent, especially if you have not taught the class before.  Another pet peeve… when you get work ready and the student does none of it!”