New Exam Exemption Policy Is Put Into Action

After a year of exam exemption, students will have new rules for  this year’s exams. 

The original policy stated if the grade was an A, the student can be absent for three days. If the grade was a B, missing more than two days would result in taking the exam. If it was a C, the student must attend class everyday except for one in order to be exempt. Any more absences would require a student to take the final exam.

“It’s different because of the number of absences that you can have and still be exempt,” assistant principal Marcia McCants said.

The new exemption policy states if the letter grade is a C or higher, the amount of days that can be missed goes up to a maximum of six. If the grade is a D, the student may still exempt as long as they have missed four or less days.

“The school reached 95 percent ADA, average daily attendance, with this exemption policy,” McCants said. 

Overall absences have drastically decreased as students view this policy as a motivation factor to attend school. Though there are still chronic absences, they have descended and the remaining chronic absences will be dealt with.

“Last year, I felt like I had to go to school even when I was sick,” senior Michael Bodecker said. 

Students have attended school sick with the flu in hopes of being able to exempt from the exam. This caused health issues as other students were affected as well. 

“This year,” Bodecker said, “I think will do a lot better since the school is more lenient on being absent.”