Vol. 49, Issue 7, 24 pages
Friday, May 3, 2024
attendance is advised
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ANNA OPALSKY/FALCONER
STUDENTS NOT IN SCHOOL: A TPHS senior walks into the attendance office at TPHS, a location frequented by students tardy to class or those called out of school. Absenteeism, already high post-pandemic, is “out of control” this year, according to TPHS Principal Rob Coppo, with approximately 90 senior contracts issued to seniors since August due to excessive tardies and absences.
Seniors receive behavior contracts for excessive absences Elsa Goodman
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
With chronic absenteeism rising to 30% statewide last school year, according to Policy Analysis for California Education, TPHS administrators are cracking down on absences among seniors with the senior contract — issuing approximately 90 contracts since the start of the year, according to Assistant Principal Robert Shockney. Senior contracts, or “behavior contracts,” as TPHS Principal Rob Coppo called them, are issued to students who have missed around 10% of the school year. They typically involve monthly meetings with an assistant principal about a student’s attendance, according to Shockney, and are given to students whose attendance causes alarm to teachers or administration. Last school year, 21% of TPHS seniors reported they had missed three or more days of school in 30 days, the highest percent of all grades, according
to data from the 2022-23 Healthy Kids Survey. Compared to before the pandemic, schools across California are now experiencing nearly twice the rate RI FKURQLF DEVHQWHHLVP ZKLFK LV GHÀQHG as missing 10% or more of school days. 7KLV DWWHQGDQFH KDV D ÀQDQFLDO LPSDFW TPHS loses $68.96 per student for every day absent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. “[Absenteeism] is out of control,” Coppo said. Shockney agreed. “Attendance is terrible right now,” he said. “The seniors that I’m engaged with … I’ve seen improvements on. But in general, attendance in schools is not getting better.” Autumn Bellenbaum (12) is one student on a senior contract. She UHFHLYHG WKH FRQWUDFW LQ WKH ÀUVW IHZ weeks of the second semester and is now “under close surveillance with attendance.” “I didn’t know about [senior
contracts] until I got one,” Bellenbaum said. Bellenbaum said that she had not realized how much school she was missing, which she attributes to taking on many “extra courses and activities … outside of class.” Once a senior contract is issued, students cannot reverse it, according to Shockney. However, even if a student remains on a contract for the remainder of the school year, consequences are only meted out if their attendance does not improve. “[Senior contracts are] very effective because anytime you are having a productive conversation with a student about their choices, it tends to be
effective,” Coppo said. “When you know there are consequences, behavior tends to change.” Consequences vary by case, according to Coppo, but students on senior contracts can lose access to Senior Week activities, ASB cards, games, Prom and walking at graduation. Of the 25 to 30 senior contracts Shockney has issued since the start of the year, he said only two have resulted in a loss of access to one of those things. “[Senior contracts] are more just to hold the line,” Shockney said. “I give [seniors] all the way up until the end to get it right.” Bellenbaum does not have any continued on A2
Due to high absenteeism rates in the senior class, some students have received senior contracts to counteract absences. The contracts, if not adhered to, could bar a student from activities like Senior Week.