The infamous Senior Skip Day. A tradition celebrated by many seniors around the country and a setback to teachers, this day is commonly overseen on the Monday after prom. Killing the fun, here comes the unexcused absence and possible detention.
Last year at South, Prom was seniors’ last day of school, so the Monday after was summer. Seniors chose to move up the date to the Monday before senior finals, resulting in unexcused absences. This threatened the inclusion of seniors with ten absences this semester. As per policy, nine strikes and you’re out of the credit.
This day is a checkpoint of newfound freedom as young adults. Taking a day off to celebrate should not count as a school absence. Fear of missing out on this widely participated day is real for those threatened with detention, or worse, credits being taken away.
Critically speaking, the attendance policy is too strict overall, it is asinine to assign the dreaded “unexcused” to a student who has a common cold. Even worse to reprimand a senior for celebrating a nationwide tradition.
Taking off this day to spend time with your friends you might be leaving, or relaxing before the chaos of college prep/final exams are great ways to spend your day off, not being the only senior sitting in class with nothing to do.
In all, celebrating senior skip day should be another step of the end-of-the-year senior send-off activities, not an absence to worry about. Administrators should be more lenient due to this event for all students, not just ones with absences to spare.
