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Attendance School


Per Alpine School District policy, I have ten days to email the school to excuse any absences or the student will receive no credit for that class. An "NC" shows up on their report card immediately. I kind of hate it. Once the ten days have passed the NC will need to be made up by either going into the school early, staying late, or showing up on a Saturday. There is a fee for both the after school and Saturday sessions, but the early morning is free. 

 There was this one time when Taylor missed a class due to an orthodontist appointment and the ten days allotted for excusing it closed its doors. I rarely went with him to his appointments this past year because he is a big boy and drives a car and so I didn't need to go. His appointment was on the calendar and he reminded me, probably a couple of times to make the excuse, but I never sent the email. He came to me feeling a bit testy, understandably, because now he would have to make an appearance at "attendance school" in order to get the NC removed from his report card. 

 In my opinion, this is a ridiculous policy and I am quite certain does not deter truancy. I told him that it was my fault the NC was still there so I would go. I refused to pay to sit in a high school desk and be babysat by a high school teacher for an hour to make up the hour of class that he missed so I prepared myself to go at 6:15 a.m. I would be allowed to bring a laptop, book, homework, or some other activity to keep myself quietly occupied for the hour. I had intended on writing an email to the district's administration about how I felt about their policy, but I restrained myself. 

 The teacher suppressed a quizzical expression when I walked into the classroom. I took a seat at the back of the room and listened carefully to the instructions: no talking, no eating or drinking, only reading or doing homework were allowed. A clipboard was passed around and we needed to write our name, student ID number, date and class period we were making up. Fortunately, I had brought a laptop so I could look up said information to put on the sheet. 

 When we were dismissed, the teacher met me at the door and I promptly volunteered the reason as to why I was there. "It was not my son's fault that I didn't excuse his absence in time," I explained, "so I was there to make up the NC for him."  He asked if I got his information recorded on the clipboard. I had. He said it was nice of me to do it. 

 Nice wasn't my goal. Teaching my son that we all need to take responsibility for our mistakes was. My mistake affected Taylor in a negative way and I did what I could to make up for it. Adults make mistakes--in my case a lot of them. I accepted the consequences and vowed to never forget to excuse another child's absence. I have six years to go. I hope I make it!

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