The quad is unusually quiet. The senior benches are empty. There is a significant increase in absent bubbles filled in on roll sheets. No, a quarter of the student body has not mysteriously disappeared. It is senior cut day.
To end some speculation among students on the administration’s stance on this annual "holiday," many seniors will be disappointed to hear that the administration does not fuel senior cut day, a tradition that continued its legacy on Monday, May 22.
“It [senior cut day] is not endorsed,” Paly assistant principal Katya Villalobos said. “We will be giving cuts.”
According to Villalobos, there are roughly 430 seniors enrolled at Paly. The attendance records suggest that approximately ninety percent of the senior class was absent on Monday. For example, a sample roll sheet displays that in a class of 32 students only two were present.
Senior cut day is an over thirty-year-old senior tradition, where the majority of seniors cut school for one day, reflecting the symptoms of "senioritis," the common disease among second semester seniors.
“All the teachers know that it is senior cut day,” senior Teja Kondapalli said. “They [teachers] are making assignments due Tuesday instead of Monday, since they know no one will be here Monday.”
In the past, some Paly community members have expressed concern that senior cut day may affect district funding, however since Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) is a Basic Aid district, as opposed to an Average Daily Attendance (ADA) district, its funding from the state is not dependent on student attendance. Thus, having nearly quarter of its student body absent on a given day does not affect the district’s funding.
However, seniors must still be mindful of Paly’s policy that five cuts in a single class results in being dropped from the course.
“We just remind the students of the attendance policy,” Villalobos said. “If it [an absence] does not fall under the excused category, it will be a cut. If it is their fifth or sixth cut, they will be dropped.”
And seniors: senior cut day is no exception to the rule.