The 1st nine weeks, 25% of the school year, is now part of history. As I mention to the seniors every year, “Enjoy the ride and stay caught up, the year will go by very fast.”
As is always the case the beginning of the year is hectic and at times chaotic. In some cases that makes it fun and in other cases it makes for complete confusion.
We always have students who seem to ease into the school year and find themselves running up hill all year. As I tell every student, “Don’t get caught up—Stay Caught up.” Words of advise I got back many years ago that have stuck with me.
The biggest issue we seem to face is absenteeism by students. If you will look at Power School you can see how much school your son or daughter has missed in each class. In some cases these absences are school related and in many cases they are not related to school activities. We understand that being absent is part of life but excessive absence is a pattern that will not set well in future endeavors.
The first nine weeks consisted of 43 school days. Five percent average absenteeism, which is a little over 2 days, makes it hard to stay caught up and we have many students who have missed much more than that. This has or will catch up with the student involved and the outcome may not be very good.
I look at school absenteeism like I look at work absenteeism. If I miss 10% of the work days monthly, I’m not sure my employer will want me to continue as an employee in his business.
I am concerned about some of our students getting into a pattern of staying home when the mood strikes them. We don’t want students coming to school ill but most of us go to work when we are not 100%.
Please check the quick look up in Power School and see just how many classes your son/daughter has missed and if excessive, you may want to have this discussion with them. Missing school can become a habit and as we all know, habits are hard to break.