All of a sudden you wake up, head pounding, throat aching and you are unable to get out of bed. Your mom comes into your room and notices your physical state, so she calls you out, telling attendance you are “sick”. Yet, out of the (around) 85 days of school per semester at South, you are only allowed to be “sick” for 10 of them. No matter if you have the flu, strep throat, or even COVID-19, you can’t get your absence excused without a doctor’s note. If you are sick with something that requires a visit to the doctor, of course, you will end up getting a note.
Students who wake up feeling like they are getting sick and know they probably have a virus, still end up going to school. According to health.com, you are the most contagious during the first 3 days of having a virus. The doctor’s note policy can force students to attend school even when they are feeling under the weather. This raises concern because you don’t want to get an unexcused absence but you know you should be staying home and resting when you are most contagious. So in order to obtain good attendance, students end up attending school, putting not only students but teachers and faculty members in danger of illness.
It is more likely for students to not be sick enough to go to the doctor but should still be staying home and resting to prevent a worse illness. Unfortunately, our policy does not promote that for students. The health and happiness of our high school students should be prioritized over their attendance.
After the pandemic, technology improved tremendously. Students are fully capable of staying home and getting almost all of the work done that they missed in school because of our well-organized Schoology system.
There should be opportunities for students to prove they are sick and not have to go to the doctor, they should not be put in a position to attend school and potentially affect anyone else. It is unrealistic for anyone with a compromised immune system or even students who lose sleep to stay up late doing homework to not get sick. Our school system is so worried about attendance that they consistently disregard the physical health of our students.
