Every student at LT has likely received a white sheet, partially folded in half, hand-delivered by one of LT’s student assistants – you’ve been served (and marked absent). 

No matter how many times you receive one, or how many other people you see receiving them, the dread doesn’t go away. Despite that dread of receiving a white slip, there’s the relief that you’re in control and immediately notified of your attendance status, allowing you to clear up faulty cuts and prove you were in class (before your parents’ questions begin). 

High school students have been struggling with absenteeism since post-COVID. Chronic absenteeism during COVID (on average across all grade levels) was 6.25% and post-pandemic spiked to 33.25% in 2022. Whether missing or skipping school for “fun,” for mental health, for doctor appointments, for lack of transportation, and more, students are still missing school, and our administration refuses to allow these high statistics to be their new normal. LT has worked for accommodations in their continuously improved attendance program. 

The recent attendance program is an in-depth approach to holding students responsible for their own attendance/absenteeism and promoting attendance with care and consideration. Currently, reporting partial and full absences must be done on the day of the student’s absence by a parent or guardian via telephone or by an Absence Request Form, with a deadline of 7:45 a.m. Excused absences have expanded validity, including up to five mental health days, family emergencies, and various other reasons. 

Chronic Absenteeism is handled with care, with some initial strategies being counseling sessions or restorative intervention before resorting to other actions. As for tardy procedures, more than 10 minutes late is a recorded cut, and each set of tardies comes with its own repercussions, from suspension to teacher-student conferences, if not cleared by the signature of a teacher.

With that extensive list, it’s safe to say all loopholes have been patched. No showing up with 10 minutes left of class for a simple mark of tardy that should really be an absence. No calling yourself out because you’re 18. Or, our favorite, no student camping out in the bathroom’s biggest stall. LT’s discipline is not a punishment for students who are active and in school and for those absent, it is a healthy acknowledgement or reinforcement before legal action is at all an option.

Beyond a student perspective, this program has clearly also improved from a statistical perspective. According to the Lyons Township Community Advisory Committee’s (LTCAC) 2024 strategic plan goal, chronic absenteeism rates dropped an average of 8.75% from 2022 to 2023 across all grade levels, and then again 1.5% from 2023 to 2024. In perspective, 8.75% of LT’s 2024 student population is about 325 more students showing up to school, and 1.5% is about 55 students.

I speak for every student with a helicopter parent when I say we don’t want more surveillance; we want control. As a student, it’s refreshing to be recognized as young adults in control of our own actions, and it truly sets patterns of personal responsibility. Especially, since in the end, all the stuff that “won’t slide in high school” will, in college. And failing a class in college—unlike high school—you’re paying $30,000 to attend, shouldn’t be your first wake-up call to realize your physical presence in class is important. Yet things happen, teens have lives outside of school, and breaks are a necessity to avoid burnout, which our policy also recognizes. Leave it to our LT administration to advocate for the future of the youth through healthy encouragement and discipline found in our attendance program.