by Ashley Ford

Due to the new attendance policy, a student can fail a course for the cycle if he or she has five or more unexcused absences. The change is intended to keep students on track with their attendance and education, according to dean Erie Lugo.

At the end of the last school year, students were given the opportunity to make up days by doing extra work or staying after school for any unexcused absences over the state-mandated limit of 20.

Some students had to make up as many as 70 hours, according to assistant dean Sean Sawyer, including seniors who found themselves at risk for not graduating, and other students were at risk for not passing multiple classes.

According to Sawyer, if a student has over five absences he or she has to talk to his or her teachers. Students will not be given the opportunity to make up hours they have missed for previous quarters at the end of the year.

However, Sawyer said that students are “ultimately under the discretion of the teacher.”

“You have to be consistent with not being absent or tardy anymore,” Sawyer said.

Students must now check in with attendance counselor Louis Gallo or Sawyer the day they come back to school to receive a pass allowing them to return to class.

Gallo said that the new practice is benefiting students by showing them a record of their absences.

“[The practice] is formalizing the attendance policy in the sense that faculty, students and parents could see that we are taking the attendance more seriously,” Gallo said. “By doing so, the attendance and the latenesses have dropped.”

At the end of the school year, the administration will add up a student’s absences and if the number is less than 21, the grades will be changed back to what the student had earned and any Fs will be removed, according to Lugo.

“The ‘F’ is going to stress the importance of being in school,” Lugo said. “When the parents see an ‘F’ on the student’s report card, they would come to a sense that there is something that needs to be improved so students would come to school more.”

Although students were told about the new rule when school began, many do not fully understand the rule and said they do not like it.

Junior Lucila Terrero said that she does not like the new rule because “an emergency could occur in the family and you could fail easily if you miss more than five days.”

“It does not make any sense to me,” Terrero said. “When it was 21 for the whole year, it was better, because if you fail one quarter, it is hard to pick your grade up for the rest of the year.”

Even though the policy may seem strict, it still has some leniency when it comes to students being absent for emergency reasons, according to Sawyer.

“The purpose of doing five per quarter is an opportunity to give students a chance so they could see what they are getting into with the amount of absences they have,” Sawyer said. “If someone has an emergency, it would be taken into account.”

During the 2012-2013 school year, students were told about the 20 and over state law policy during the year, but some were left in shock at the end of the year when the plan was put in action.

“[A] student who has more than 20 unexcused absences in one school year will not receive credit for any classes taken during that school year,” the student handbook states.

Senior Edwin Rodriguez said he has mixed feelings about the new attendance policy because “it is a lot harder to miss school days without a doctor’s note, but at least students would know in advance so they could improve.”

“At the end of day, students want to pass, so it is better this way,” Rodriguez said.

Although some students may see it has a better way to pass, many also believe that the rule should go back to the way it was previously.

Sophomore Angel Rodriguez said that the rule is “OK,” but she believes it should go back to how it was in previous years.

“The policy has a good reason behind it compared to other schools that really do not care if you fail, but I think that the policy last year was better because you had the chance to make up your absences at the end of the year not just the end of one cycle,” Rodriguez said.