10A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL FEBRUARY 8, 2017
CGHS to consider denying privileges for
chronically absent students
BY CAITLYN MAY
cmay@cgsentinel.com
The South Lane School
District gave their support
to Cottage Grove High
School to try a new way
to cure senioritis: deny chronically absent students the ability to
walk at graduation and attend prom.
"As of the holiday break, over 50 percent of our seniors are
chronically absent and several of them are 18, which means we
can't do anything about it through the truancy court system," Gary
Roberts told the board.
To be considered chronically absent by the state of Oregon, a stu-
dent has to miss more than 10 percent of the school year. In South
Lane, that equates to approximately 18 days of school. And while
the school district says it is aware of circumstances that would pre-
vent students from having a clean attendance record, Roberts told
the board some students priorities have shifted,
"I have chronically absent kids because they have to get their
nails done. I've had a mother call and say, 'yeah she had to get her
nails done.' Those aren't acceptable absences for our kids." Roberts
said. "They're missing important instructional time for things they
can be doing when school is out or on the weekends."
While South Lane School District reported a nearly 94 perent
graduation rate, keeping seniors in class has become an issue. Ac-
cording to Roberts, students are citing several reasons for skipping
out of school including the rigor of senior classes and their ability
to pass their classes without attending.
According to superintendant Krista Parent, if a student passes all
of their classes from freshamn year to junior year, they only have a
few course requirements left to graduate and the remainder of their
schedule becomes elective courses.
The suggestion of denying the right to walk drew the attention of
board member Jerry Settlemeyer who said, "The kids are in school
12 years and graduation is at the end of 12 or 13 grade. There has to
be something else that answers why school isn't important enough."
He went on to say, "I don't know when we say rigor of senior class-
es, that means they can skip half and still pass or is it too hard, why
do they care? I think it's very important for kids to attend school and
for us to want them to be in school. Every day in school is valuable
but I think the penalty to a family of not having the ceremony isn't
fair."
The consensus of the board, however, was to note that parents
and children are in charge of their consequences and could avoid
them by attending school.
Roberts said he had reached out to other districts to deal with
the issue of attendance and this idea was one that showed promise.
High school principal Iton Udosenata addressed the meeting
from the audience to note that the school had no intention of pun-
ishing students who had valid reasons for missing school.
"It really is important to us that every kid cross the stage," he
said. "We're not going to ding kids who have serious issues that
prevent them from going to school. What we don't want to do is just
let kids off the hook who decide it's not important.
The changes would go into effect this year for seniors and next
year the restrictions on dances for chronically absent kids would hit
the underclassmen. All students already beyond the 10 percent limit
will be getting individualized calls or messages home to alert them
of their past attendance record. All students will be getting letters
sent home to explain the new policy. Absences counted towards the
policy began on Feb. 1.
"We're giving them a fresh start," Roberts said.
To reach the 10 percent limit going forward, students would have
to miss a total of 10 days between now and the end of the school
year. Students with documented medical conditions or document-
ed family emergencies would not have those days counted against
them.
"Doesn't it seem odd that children missing that much school can
be graduating?" Merlene Martin of the board asked.
However, legislation bars teachers from failing students based
soley on attendance. Students who complete their coursework can
technically graduate despite their lack of attendance.
Play Continued from A1
mispronunciations by Stache (played by Kory Weimer), who is
then corrected by Smee (played by Sophie Blades) truly hit a nos-
talgic nerve when thinking of the goofy villain from the Disney
animated fi lm.
The boy who is later named Peter is played by Sheldon Hall. The
young Hall brings to the stage the angst and anger of a neglected
orphan boy who hates grown-ups, but also brings the innocence of
boyhood to light.
Outside of the outstanding cast, the set design (FeO2 group or
company) served as a background for a story that has a lot of
fantasy-based elements to it. In Act I, the set is used for the two
ships. An variety of wooden boxes, ladders and rope made up the
vessels. Tony Rust deserves recognition for the direction of the
play, and one of the more interestingly directed scenes was where
Molly sneaks around multiple levels and peaks into different
rooms on board. The movement throughout the set is well done
for the given limited space.
For theatre lovers, this is not one to miss. Peter and the Starcatch-
er is boisterous, brazen and beautifully bestowed unto its audience
(and will have its wordplay evidently rub off).
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