By Allison Williams
It seems most people miss class for an appointment or being sick. This is not the case. A common reason students miss class is athletics.
Depending on the sport, student athletes miss school up to three times a week. They tend to leave around noon at the earliest, but some may even miss the entire day.
Junior Thomas Irick experiences this as a member of the tennis team.
“Sometimes they’re in Kansas City, sometimes they’re in Topeka or farther away,” he said.
English teacher Kim O’Brien said many students handle the responsibility of lost class time well.
“I think it’s all about balance,” she said. “You know, if a student misses a day or two here and there if that’s an easy fix, they can take responsibility to make that up, but if a student loses, you know, many days for the same class, you’re talking significant amounts of lost class time now, and that becomes detrimental for everybody.”
On occasion, athletes leave early for home events as well, and some wonder if this is necessary.
“I think it should be the home team that decides what time the game is, and no I don’t think you should be out of class early,” said junior AnnaKate Kleibohmer, a soccer player.
Irick disagrees.
“You need time to prepare, time to warm up, get yourself in the mindset to play your sport,” he said.
Student athletes said they tend to keep up with their missed work.
“I’d say my grades are fine, but you know you have to have good communication with the teacher,” Kleibohmer said.
Even though it doesn’t seem to jeopardize her grades, Kleibohmer said schools should find ways to cut down on athletic absences.
“I think it’s bad because we’re student athletes and student comes first, so we need to be in the classroom,” she said.
O’Brien said students missing class doesn’t necessarily affect teachers.
“It doesn’t impact me that much because it’s their responsibility to make stuff up,” she said. “If they are motivated enough they will come in and they’ll ask questions, and I don’t mind working with students in that context.”
There are steps each person should take in order to catch up with missed class time.
“Serious students who are concerned about their education and their grades will always, number one tell me before they’re going to be gone, make it a point to come in and talk to me if they are missing anything, and set up a time to make it up,” O’Brien said.
If students were not able to leave school early for sports, it would affect an athlete’s entire day.
“Games would be later,” Kleibohmer said. “I’d get home later, shower later, eat later and go to bed later.”
O’Brien doubts all the activities could take place outside the school day. Still, student athletes could possibly stay in classes longer. Irick and Kleibohmer said athletes typically get out of school 20 to 30 minutes before they need to be on the bus.
“(It) is a little excessive,” Kleibohmer says, “Everybody knows they need to be a certain place a certain time. You need to get there like that’s your responsibility.”
O’Brien agrees.
“I don’t think there is a reason for them to be out more than 15 minutes early,” she said.
Some students might leave school earlier than they are intended to.
“If they could be in class for part of an hour they should be in class for part of the hour and not just think, well I’m leaving so I’m just going to be gone the whole hour,” O’Brien said.