Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 7, 1990 TAG: 9003071771
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MARGARET CAMLIN NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
New regulations will no longer allow an unlimited number of excused absences. In fact, the regulations won't differentiate between unexcused or excused absences.
Simply put, students who miss more than 18 days in a yearlong course, or nine absences in a semester course, will not receive credit for the course.
The regulations will apply to students in grades 6 through 12. Absences because of testing, school field trips, buses that are late or fail to run, or conferences with school staff will not count toward the 18.
Superintendent Harold Dodge presented the regulations to the School Board Tuesday.
Last fall he asked each county school to create a committee of parents, teachers and administrators to find out if attendance was a problem. Each of the committees made recommendations and suggested incentives for boosting attendance.
Blacksburg High's committee suggested free passes for food at McDonald's or for school events; Christiansburg High's committee suggested a dance for teens who didn't miss a day.
Four of the committees suggested exempting students with excellent attendance records from exams. Dodge said he was concerned about this idea because of other tests students may encounter later.
"The pressure of having to face exams may be one of the things we help prepare students for," he said.
Only about 5 percent of the county's middle and high school students skip school frequently, according to Steve Staples, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.
Board member Richard Zody objected to rewarding students for good attendance. "I don't understand the need to reward people who are doing what they ought to be doing," he said.
Staples said many of the teen-agers who cut school "probably don't have a role model or standard that encourages anything" and may be "learning a pattern of behavior where there are no commitments" at home. The regulations can help students learn that they have to get up in the morning and go to school, he said.
Any exceptions will need approval of a school review panel, comprised of an assistant principal and two teachers. Parents and staff members will be able to inform the panel about the student's academic standing and attendance record before it makes a ruling.
The panel's decision could be appealed to the principal, then a central office staff member in charge of the attendance program, then the superintendent, and finally the School Board.
Also at the meeting, the board discussed the pros and cons of hiring a staff lawyer. "We're about at that point" where it might cost about the same to have a staff attorney as to continue paying a lawyer by the hour, board member Donald Lacy said.
The board spent between $28,000 and $40,000 for legal services last year, Lacy said.
Chairwoman Virginia Kennedy said no other school system in Virginia has its own attorney. Many share a lawyer with the town or county, she said.
Dodge said a disadvantage of having an attorney on staff is that he or she might "become more of an agent for the superintendent rather than a representative of the board."
Lacy said an in-house attorney would help the board practice "preventive law" rather than "damage control."
The board has hired Jean Arnold, a Blacksburg lawyer, on an hourly basis for the past several years. She will begin soon as a staff lawyer for the Virginia School Board Association and will no longer serve Montgomery County.
Board members asked Dodge to find out how many hours Arnold and other lawyers worked for the county last year.
by CNB