AND MORE ON ATTENDANCE!

(please also read the main article on attendance further below in this blog)

Attendance related items continue to take up a lot of time. I have inserted below a recent email from a parent who I feel isn't on the same page as I am with regards to the importance of attendance.

PARENT EMAIL -

Dear Mr. Mark McCallum!

My name’s PARENT NAME; STUDENT’s mother. I want to let school know that he will not able to come to school on DATE. We have bought air ticket for him to go back TO COUNTRY during the holiday. Because of airline’s schedule, he can’t make it. I wish the school can understand the situation. He will catch the flight at 10 am.
Thank you so much!

MY REPLY (Perhaps too direct?)

Dear PARENT,

Please excuse my directness, however, this is a regular occurrence for STUDENT. I am concerned what message it sets to students when parents let them depart from school a day early to start their vacation early.

If you or your husband requested to start your holidays early from your employer (or an employee requested an extra day leave to catch flights) I would imagine that it would not be possible. We are trying to instill a sense of responsibility with our students, a sense that school IS important, and that students shouldn’t miss school due to (a) better flight schedules or (b) poor planning to book flights.

Again, please excuse my frankness and directness. I only want the best for STUDENT, and do not believe that the best for him is allowing him to miss school to start holidays earlier or to catch flights.

I have written my thoughts about students missing school and attendance in newsletters and other mailings. You can also read my thoughts on my Blog, by visiting http://isshighschool.blogspot.com/.

Sincerely,

Mark McCallum

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Parents and students - I'd like to know your thoughts on the issue - should the school just turn a 'blind eye' and let students start their vacations early? What do you think? Does it really matter if students miss days of school?