Trash cans are filled to the brim with tissues.

The hand sanitizer bottles are running low.

The sounds of sneezing, coughing and sniffles penetrate every room.

But despite this pervasive sickness, the majority of seats in every class are still filled with suffering students.

As they attempt to learn, their white blood cells battle away.

There’s no doubt a new attendance policy was needed this year. The levels of chronic absenteeism have been rising, reaching 23.1 percent for the 2024-25 school year, which is about a 10 percent leap from the rate in 2018-19.

In March of last year, Portrait explored this alarming trend in the story “Behind the empty seats,” written by Elizabeth Gisholt (‘25).

“According to the American Federation of Teachers, chronic absenteeism is defined as missing at least 10 percent of school days (18 days for the school year), excused or unexcused,” Gisholt said.

The new attendance policy introduced aims to lower these present levels of chronic
absenteeism. According to the policy Q&A sent out to students and families by email, regular attendance is instrumental to student success.

“We desire students to attend regularly so that they build stronger connections with staff and peers, stay engaged in learning and increase chances for long-term achievement,” the Q&A said. “This new procedure provides multi-layered interventions that we hope will help us identify and remove barriers, increase accountability and better meet the individual needs of families.”

In the new policy, it is stated that a student will temporarily lose extracurricular privileges, such as athletic or dance participation, if they reach 45 absences in a semester.

But this year, excused absences now count toward this limit, as well as unexcused absences and tardies greater than 10 minutes.

What doesn’t count are prearranged absences, religious observances, medical reasons, hospitalization, college visits with proper documentation, funerals and school-related absences. Now, if students are home sick, a parent’s call to the attendance office excusing them will only clear the absence if accompanied by a doctor’s note.

This addition is an extra step that doesn’t fit into the schedule or means of many families.

In addition to the spreading of sicknesses, the new attendance policy fails to account for the inequities it causes.

First of all, some students can’t afford to go to the doctor just to get a doctor’s note. The average cost of a pediatrician visit in Michigan is $94 to $132, which isn’t anywhere near a small sum.

In addition, some students simply don’t have a parent who can take them to the doctor.

Many doctors’ offices are only open during the school or work day, and so students’ parents who have full time jobs can’t take them. And per the attendance policy, doctors can’t write a doctor’s note for past sick days, forcing the scheduling of doctor’s visits to be made at the first cough or sniffle.

If a student isn’t able to get a doctor’s note, taking just one sick day accounts for 15 percent of their allowed absences for the semester.

As a result, students are taking less and less sick days.

Instead, they’re going to school when they’re sick, causing viruses to spread, impacting one’s academic and athletic performance.

This also prevents students from taking the rest they need to get better, prolonging their illness.

In addition to physical sickness, the new attendance policy limits a student’s ability to take a mental health day.

According to the Child Mind Institute, “taking mental health days — that is, time at home to rest and recharge — can be an important tool to help protect and manage mental health.”

While it’s true that taking one mental health day every now and then won’t make a big dent on the 45 absence allowance, the bigger issue is the mental health implications of the policy itself. Students now have to stress over when it’s okay to stay home sick, when to take a mental health day and remembering to get a doctor’s note every time they go for a checkup.

On top of the everyday stressors of high school life, this isn’t manageable for many.

An attendance policy was needed to battle chronic absenteeism.

But it’s also true that this new policy is contributing to chronic sickness and mental health struggles.

Unfortunately, it’s a delicate balance between the two.

We suggest that parents should be allowed to call their students in sick without a doctor’s note, while still having the 45 absences cutoff to encourage students to come to class.

That way, we’ll be surrounded by rooms full of talkative and laughing peers, not ones hidden behind masks and mounds of tissues.