Changes are coming: attendance procedure

On June 18, the School Committee approved the attendance policy for the 2025 to 2026 school year. Though it contains no strict changes for this coming year, the enforcement of this policy will evolve. 

Changes to policy had been precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a rise in chronic absenteeism. According to the Department of Education, chronic absenteeism is defined as having missed fifteen or more days of school.

With around eleven percent of students deemed chronically absent in the 2022-23 year, the changes over the past two years have come from  student data. The definition of “chronically absent” according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is missing ten percent or more of any of the 180 days of school for any reason. 

“I would say that our policy has actually not changed all that much, but our enforcement and our practices to re-engage students have evolved quite a bit,” said Mr. Colin Shattuck, one of the high school’s vice principals. 

This enforcement includes sitting down with parents, giving more detentions, and for administration to constantly look at the current policy to adapt to student needs and communities of similar size and location.  

Principal Dr. Jamie Chisum echoed a similar sentiment in terms of new plans for further attendance enforcement in this coming school year. This can include implementing stricter prevention of student participation in sports or performing arts extracurriculars if they had been marked absent for the day.

“The adjustment we're making is enforcement of a rule that exists on the books, that we have not been assiduous about enforcing,” said Chisum. 

If students miss eleven class periods in the quarter, they run the risk of receiving an “N” grade (defined as no credit). One “N” in a year-long course results in 25 percent of credit from the class to be reduced. However, if extenuating circumstances have been articulated to the vice principal of a student’s house office, they may be able to maintain credit. This number is resoundingly less than the 18 days that would constitute the “chronically absent” marker. 

Though the ‘N’ grade has no effect on a student’s grade point average, it can possibly negatively impact the graduation timeline. 

Administration is planning on decreasing the number of class periods a student can miss in a quarter before they earn an ‘N’ grade from eleven to eight, if approved by the school committee. This will decrease the amount of absences a student can have before receiving an ‘N’ grade from 44 absences to 32 absences over the year. 

“That’s still a pretty generous number, but it’s a step in the right direction and I think it will impact attendance,” said Chisum.

The ‘N’ grade is just the final step in a long process of absences, however. Within our school system, there is a strong differentiation between the two main types of absences: excused and unexcused, which is also the focal point of the procedural changes this year.

The student handbook for the 2025-26 school year has defined an “excused absence” as one due to “illness or injury, bereavement, major religious observances, or other extraordinary family circumstances that have been approved by the school principal.” 

In contrast, an “unexcused absence” has been deemed as “repetitive or chronic absence and/or tardiness due to illness or injury not documented by a doctor or other medical professional; truancy; family vacations; undocumented absences; or non-emergency family situations.” 

According to the high school attendance procedure, there is a strong correlation between academic performance and attendance.

“We really value you being here, and we think that it’s meaningful to have that in-person engagement with your classmates and your teachers and this community. I know it may not show up in a grade, but there’s a lot of value in that in person engagement,” said Shattuck. 

Missing too much school intersects with Massachusetts General Law Chapter 76, Section 18 (“Dropout Prevention”) which states that there must be communication within a period of five days from the student’s tenth consecutive absence. School policy currently intervenes before the tenth consecutive absence by meeting with parents and guardians as well as utilizing the Bridge Program. 

The Bridge Program helps students who have been out for an extended period of time from school due to emotional or medical reasons to reintegrate back into their classes slowly. 

From the Bridge Program to meeting with faculty members, the school offers a multitude of options to eliminate falling attendance.  

That being said, the high school will not require an action plan with parents or guardians until students have five or more unexcused absences. DESE only allows districts to excuse seven full days or fourteen half-days within a six-month period during the school year, around two quarters at the high school. 

“We’re constantly going to be considering the ways in which we are promoting engagement for our students to be here and it requires partnership with families. It requires us finding the right balance between the expectation and the consequences from missing school. The biggest consequence for missing school is you're missing learning,” said Shattuck.