A Service of The Arrow           Monday March 27, 2000 8:56 PM

By: Alli Tuszynski

ARROW STAFF

For last semester’s first quarter mid-term, American History teacher Jean Barragan sent out four fail slips. This semester she has sent out 17. Can she chalk this up to a sudden dumbing down of history students, or is there another reason?

"The attendance (policy) has increased the number of students failing my class," says Barragan. "I think second semester in the year 2001 we will have a lot of crowded classes with students who failed second semester this year, needing to repeat."

Barragan isn’t the only teacher noticing a change in the number of absences since the new attendance policy took effect at the beginning of the second semester. In fact, student absences have become somewhat of an epidemic.

"It’s serious," says veteran math teacher Larry Kaber. "There are teachers with nine-fold the number of absences."

The new attendance policy was written before the start of second semester by a 15-member committtee — consisting of FHS administration, teachers, support staff, students and parents — after the school board’s months of research and debate produced a set of guidelines that a new policy must follow.

"The objective was the policy must not encourage students to come to school sick and would not encourage students to drop out," said Flathead High School Principal Callie Langohr. "Also (the goal was) to write a policy (where) an assessment wouldn’t be tied to it."

The new attendance policy no longer includes the "no semester test" incentive or the 10-absence cap, and has given many students the impression that class attendance is optional.

"I like it," says senior Buddy Evenson of the new policy. "I always had to take semesters anyway, but now I can miss as many days as I want and I don’t have to go to that dumb (extension) meeting."

While students are the primary culprits of attendance delinquency, there is a broad agreement that part of the fault lies with parents.

"I feel good about the philosophy and intent of the policy," says Vice Principal Mike Hittle, "but I don’t feel good about the students taking advantage of it and that some of the parents are excusing students for some of the reasons they are excusing them for."

Langohr is aware of the large percentage of Flathead High School parents who "take the business of education seriously," but is also aware that "on the other hand, we have a segment of our population of adults that for whatever reason don’t provide the guidance needed to get their sons or daughters to school."

School board member Don Murray is aware that many people blame the board for ruining a good policy, but he feels adamant the group made a well thought-out decision.

Said Murray: "I can not support this institution allowing students not to take exams."

A number of students feel differently about the issue.

"I hate this policy because you have to take semesters no matter what," says sophomore Joe Anderson. "There’s no reason for me to go to school if I don’t want to go."

"I actually liked the other policy better," says senior Andrea Sundberg-Stam. "There should be an incentive because nobody is going to class and the teachers are getting mad."

For teachers, the attendance problem has meant not only additional hours before and after school preparing and facilitating make-up work, but also additional time reviewing material and

restructuring lesson plans to accommodate for half-full classrooms.

"Part of me wants to say lets go back to traditional learning where there’s less homework and more tests," says world history teacher Kristin Morin, but she admits, "I would be bored to tears. I like learning where it’s student driven and I’m just the facilitator."

The battle, though, is getting harder for teachers to fight.

"I’ve heard of some really dynamite teaching activities that just fell flat because there weren’t enough people to do it," says Hittle. "It’s affecting the teachers because with a high absentee rate they either

have to review more or change their teaching style."

With teachers being forced to change their strategy to convey knowledge, it may be the students who lose, says Langohr.

"The real education takes place when a student can do that hands on, real live (activities)," she said. "When the students don’t come to class it’s a set back in the whole educational process. It’s a setback

for them and it’s a set back for our high educational standards as a school."

There those who are optimistic that attendance will improve with time.

"I think once everyone gets use to it and the students realize even though there are no limits on their absences they have to be in class otherwise their grades will be lower than expected," said Hittle. "Once we get that line crossed the absentee rate will go down."

There are currently no plans to change the attendance policy but rather to wait it out. Said Langohr:

"It may be a little tough love… (including) natural consequences: if you don’t attend school, you won’t get the grades you think you deserve."

For Morin, whose average absence rate has risen from around five absences out of 130 students per day last semester to anywhere from 15 to 25 absences per day this semester, the seriousness of the situation is clear. The significantly lower grades resulting from poor attendance, says Morin, present a frighteningly long list of students with the potential to fail.

"The long term effects of this we probably won’t know for two or three years," says Morin. "I hope that kids and parents get a wake up call before it’s too late."

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