The Paly administration may implement new policies such as a Saturday School to solve Paly’s truancy problem, according to an announcement made by Social Studies Instructional Supervisor Eric Bloom at an after school meeting on Tuesday, May 19.
According to Bloom, 72 percent of Paly students are truants, defined by the California Department of Education as having three or more unexcused absences in a semester.
Many teachers feel that the truancy problem is becoming increasingly serious.
“This is the worst year in 15 years as far as attendance goes, hands down,” social studies teacher Kathie Laurence said.
A group of teachers devised two major plausible strategies that could “produce disincentives” for students to not cut class, according to Bloom. These two strategies include requiring students to attend Saturday School and placing students’ attendance records on their high school transcripts, according to Bloom.
According to the Saturday School strategy, parents would have 48 hours to clear each unexcused absence before their students must attend Saturday School. For example, one unexcused absence would require an individual to be present at Saturday School for one hour between eight and noon.
Many high ranking schools in the Bay Area, including Gunn High School, have adopted this method of deterring truancy, according to Bloom.
“It is a widespread and common practice to discourage students from cutting,” Bloom said. “We want to move away from the idea of cutting as being not a big deal.”
At the meeting, some students expressed their concern that Saturday School would add to the stressful environment on campus.
“Many students are cutting because of their large course load and extracurricular activities,” junior Alex Freeman said. “Saturday School could further increase the stress that students are feeling.”
Although most teachers understood that many students are stressed, some suggested that students cut down their course loads and extracurricular activities to ascertain that they can progress through high school without selectively cutting classes.
Students may have to select more manageable schedules to reduce their chances of selectively cutting, according to Living Skills teacher Letitia Burton.
“We need to examine whether it is necessary for students to take five AP [advanced placement] classes,” Burton said. “There are plenty of people who get into college without taking so many AP classes.”
Bloom also expressed concern about the way in which students deliberately miss certain classes because they place other courses and activities as higher priorities.
“We [teachers] recognize that there are student-identified reasons to cut,” Bloom said. “However, we as teachers feel that school can’t be the thing to skip.”
Other students were concerned that they would be punished for errors in the attendance system or a parent’s failure to call in an absence.
“I have received cuts because my parents forgot to call in an absence,” said junior Olivia Diamond.
However, administrators believe that the 48 hour period for parents to call in absences and improvements in the attendance system will solve these problems. According to Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson, less parents are excusing their students late.
“It’s [Situations when 48 hour deadline passes] a lot better now than it was two years ago, and I think it will continue to get better,” Berkson said. “It’s an issue of education about the system.”
To effectively inform all parents about any new attendance policies, the administration would consistently communicate any changes through meetings and letters.
“We’d need to be robust in communicating what is going on,” librarian Rachel Kellerman said. “We would make sure that everyone’s on board and understands the parameters.”
Administrators also emphasized that they would try to create a collaborative model of a new attendance policy with students.
“These ideas are by no means set in stone,” said Bloom. “This is just what we have come up with so far, and we welcome further input.”
Laurence suggested that the Paly administration consider more positive incentives for students to refrain from truancy.
“We are looking at punishment and a deficit model,” Laurence, said. “Could we somehow create [positive] incentives for kids who are doing it right?”
Those who attended the meeting suggested rewards ranging from a celebratory breakfast every semester to awards at graduation for students with good attendance records.
Other solutions mentioned at the meeting included improvements to the attendance system to allow teachers to see whether or not student absences are excused.
“Right now, we [teachers] have no way to know whether or not an absence was a cut,” said science teacher Elizabeth Brimhall. “The problem is that parents have 48 hours to call in an absence, and we don’t hear back on whether or not it’s excused.”
In addition, there seemed to be further agreement on the efficacy of placing attendance records on transcripts. English instructional supervisor Trinity Klein pointed out that even students who selectively cut with the approval of their parents would later face consequences of their actions.
“Twenty excused absences on transcripts will be a red flag for colleges,” Klein said.