Senior: Students Going to School Sick to Avoid Absences

Concerns from students that many of their peers are coming to school sick, and infecting others, rather than risking racking up absences has prompted the board of education to promise to take another look at its new absentee policy.

The policy change was approved July 24, and says that anyone absent more than 16 days from a year-long course, 12 days from a physical education course, eight days from a semester course and four days in a single marking period course will be subjected to administrative action.

This change was made in response to concerns that some students are racking up too many absences that are categorized as excused.

Superintendent of Schools Michael Schilder has said that the policy change was done to send a stronger message from the administration about the importance of being in school.

But Bridgewater-Raritan High School senior Anish Kumar said at Thursday’s board of education meeting that he and his peers are concerned about the strictness of the policy.

“We think it could be implemented better,” he said.

The first issue, Kumar said, is with the unchargeable absences. It seems like there is a requirement, he said, that you must be “medically quarantined” to be excused from school.

But, Kumar said, that is causing people to come to school sick.

“I have friends who get sick often, and they come to school because they are at risk of losing credits,” he said. “One of my friends has pink eye, and she got another friend sick. She went to the nurse to say she should go home and was told she had too many sick days already.”

Aside from the health risk, Kumar said, seniors are having trouble planning college visits and interviews for entrance into medical and other programs, all of which tend to occur during the school days.

“Some college programs have required interviews, and they are during the school days, and there is no mechanism in place to get excused,” he said.

In addition, Kumar said, senior health was moved to the third quarter, when many of those interviews are taking place, and students are limited in how many classes they can miss before they lose credit for the class.

“But if we have to miss programs about colleges and the school environment, and we can’t attend visitation days, how do we know if we can attend?” he asked. “I know the school has allotted some number of days to be released for college visits, but we would like some sort of mechanism in place.”

Kumar said it is important to be cognizant of these concerns in terms of the policy.

“I ask that the policy could be implemented better, and ask for it to be done better for the health and wellness of the students,” he said.

Board member Lynne Hurley said she shares many of these concerns about the policy, and board members said they would relook at whether there are better ways of implementing it.

How do you think the policy could be changed?