Students Skipping College Tours Because of Absentee Fears

With concerns over students skipping college tours to ensure they don’t have too many absences, the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education has committed to reviewing the absentee policy and making changes where necessary.

“I think something has to be looked at,” said board vice president Jill Gladstone, particularly with regard to seniors having a one-semester health class in the third marking period when most college tours are scheduled. “Seniors have to travel and interview for specialized programs for college. I think there should be some flexibility for four missing days for that health class.

“I would like to see true revisions to benefit the students,” she added.

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.

Ryan Pearce, a student at Bridgewater-Raritan High School, said he knows of one student who was forced to reschedule a visit to Quinnipiac University recently because she would have had too many absences in her health class.

“It is very important that students visit college, May is decision time,” he said. “We could have something along the lines of a doctor’s note, have the university confirm you were there so the school knows they are not abusing absences.”

Board member Ann Marie Mead said she thinks the board needs to define the actual problem with the policy before reopening the discussion.

“It was my understanding there was an appeals process, and if students have a legitimate excuse, there are people who can provide [excused absences],” she said. “I am curious about what the problem is and what it was a year ago.”

Superintendent of Schools Michael Schilder said that, in past years, there was an attendance committee in place, but that students actually felt they had 16 days to spend, and if they went over those days they could go for an appeal.

“If they didn’t use all the days by the end of the year, they would use them, and we found there were too many students with 30 to 40 absences still graduating,” he said.

Now, Schilder said, the appeals process looks more at the information. For example, he said, if a student had six college visits and seven days of illness, that would be considered legitimate and allowed.

“But if you had four absences where you just stayed home, even though those others are legitimate, there will be administrative action taken,” he said.

Schilder said it is also interesting that the new state report card on student progress is very critical of schools with regard to absences.

“It rates you in terms of absences, and they don’t care why you’re out,” he said. “The number is the number, and you are rated and cited if it goes over 6 percent.”

“We definitely would have been cited in past years for that,” he added.

Cheryl Dyer, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said the absences are reported by individual schools.

Bridgewater-Raritan High School principal Brett Charleston will be speaking to the board at a future meeting about the policy, as well as his recommendations for changes to be made to it.

Board member Lynne Hurley said she just wants to ensure it is not a problem for students, especially high school seniors.

“We don’t want to hurt kids who are conscientious and don’t just skip class,” she said. “I feel I made a mistake voting for it, so I’m glad we’re looking at it again.”