THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 8, 1995 TAG: 9509070185
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
The School Board has decided to again discuss the new districtwide attendance policy after a steady stream of parents criticized it at Tuesday night's meeting, saying it undermined their authority and sent mixed messages to kids.
Under the policy, which is in line with others in local districts, a student can fail a class because of excessive absences regardless of the grade earned. All absences are counted, whether the student has parental permission to miss school or not. A waiver policy was added so that illness, family crises and other extenuating circumstances could be considered.
But parents who spoke before the board Tuesday argued that forcing them to justify a decision to hold a child out of school to a school administrator or committee was intrusive. And, they said, the policy stood to hurt the students who were most active and worked the hardest.
Barbara Konowicz, the mother of two honor roll students, said one of her sons would have been held back three times under the current policy.
``Instead of an academically talented ninth-grader, he could have been an overgrown, frustrated sixth-grader with no interest in school,'' she said.
The board's policy addresses a ``minor problem'' in a way that creates a ``major problem,'' Konowicz said.
Larry Smith, who has gathered parents disgruntled with the policy into a group called Adults Concerned with Education, said he supports the premise that attendance is important. But, Smith said, he could not accept a policy that did not treat legitimate absences as such and in which ``parental authority is subjugated to the waiver process.''
Key points of the regulations are:
Sixth- through 12th-graders with more than 12 absences from class in a semester will receive a failing grade.
Sixth- through 12th-graders with alternate-day or block schedules and more than six absences from a class in a single semester will receive a failing grade.
Elementary pupils with more than 24 absences in one year may be denied promotion on the authority of the principal.
Exceptions can be requested through a formal waiver process added last month. Each school will have a committee to consider requests. Principals have discretion to exclude some absences during the screening process. If a request is turned down by the committee, the decision can be appealed through successive administrative levels, ultimately to the superintendent.
The board approved the policy in June on a 7-3 vote. At that time, board members opposed to the policy raised some of the same questions parents have brought up, including punishing students by taking away an earned grade.
Board members who supported the policy, however, say the students are learning lessons for the real world.
``Every job I've ever had, attendance played a big part in whether you did a good job or not,'' board Chairwoman June T. Kernutt said when the policy was approved.
Board members did not say they would take a new vote on the policy, but they did agree to discuss it again at their Sept. 19 meeting.
KEYWORDS: OMNIBUS VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD by CNB