Being exempt from senior finals is a privilege, and we appreciate it. However, aspects of the policy could use revision.
First, absences due to illness should not be part of the formula. While being sick can definitely cause a student to fall behind, a good student can often recover his/her grade and learn all the material in several days. If a student can keep up with the class, he/she should not be penalized.
Under the current rule, students come to school with 100 degree fevers, flus and other contagious illnesses and just to avoid finals. They then infect other students, and illnesses that could have been contained are spread around the school. The rule needs to be revised to protect the health of LHS students.
Also, not enough college visit days are built in. Because Spring Break is before April 1st, many students will not know where they have gotten into college yet, therefore it would be pointless to visit those schools over break. With the two built-in days, a student who wants to attend a school outside of Kansas could probably only visit one school.
The administration does not have to give everyone extra days; some students would just use it as an opportunity to skip school and “visit KU” for the hundredth time. However, if a counselor can validate that the student has schools to visit and all of a student’s teachers approve the visit, the student should be able to go without a penalty toward finals.
Excused absences of any kind should not count against students trying to waive their finals.
