At the beginning of the school year, school administration released a new attendance policy, lowering the permitted number of unexcused absences a student can have per semester from nine to five. The updated attendance policy came as a shock to all students. But for junior Mikayla Miessler, she knew that the policy would directly impact her.
“When I first heard about it, I honestly just started stressing out because there was no way I was going to be able to fit all my club volleyball tournaments into five absences,” Miessler said.
The number of unexcused absences was set by the Seminole County School Board, as a part of their uniform High School Attendance Policy. However, school administration reduced the number of allowable unexcused absences per class to better reflect the length of block periods, as missing one class period means missing an extended period of instructional time.
“While the county’s new uniform attendance policy doesn’t change any of Hagerty’s specific attendance policies, it does reinforce our efforts to ensure that both students and parents take attendance seriously,” assistant principal Reggie Miller said. “This focus underscores the importance of being present and engaged every day.”
“This new attendance policy has made me so much more cautious and aware of my attendance because I need to save my absences for club volleyball season,” Miessler said. “Because of this, I have had to attend school when I am sick or injured rather than just resting for a day because I don’t have absences to spare. It’s really unfair because it almost makes it impossible for student-athletes to be able to succeed in our sport and our education at the same time.”
Both the attendance policy and the process of submitting attendance documentation to excuse absences remains the same. In previous school years, parental guardians would need to email attendance documentation or provide a hard copy to the school directly; however, now a Google Form will be used for parents to upload documentation.
In an email to students and parents, administration detailed the new attendance policy in full and addressed misconceptions about credit denial, stating that the lost time will be made up “hour for hour” to reinstate credit.
While administration intended to make the attendance policy more streamlined to hold students accountable, students felt blindsided by the change at the beginning of the year.
“The change is bound to cause many issues with students,” sophomore Kamryn Debaets said. “I know that I live relatively far from school and my mom drives me every day, what will I be able to do if she gets sick and can’t drive me? It’s made me much more cautious and fearful about missing class time.”
Administration believes that while the attendance policy will take getting used to, it will ultimately better serve students and allow them to take full advantage of the instructional time they’re supposed to attend.
“The decision to revisit the attendance policy this year is grounded in the need for accountability,” assistant principal Reggie Miller said. “Students and parents must take responsibility for consistent attendance, as it directly impacts academic performance.”
