Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 3, 1995                   TAG: 9508070014
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: W-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: STEWART MACiNNIS SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
DATELINE: NEW CASTLE                                LENGTH: Medium

CRAIG NO-SHOWS GET NO CREDIT, SAYS BOARD

The system's experience last year without an attendance policy was described by one administrator as a "disaster." Prior to last year Craig had an attendance policy but it was scrapped because it became so burdened with details that it was unworkable.

"This is a policy we can live with, and it will still meet the needs we want to address," Superintendent Dallas Helems said of the policy adopted Tuesday.

The new five-point policy requires high school students to attend a class at least 90 percent of the time it is in session in order to receive credit for the semester. Missing nine days of class out of the 90-day semester will be cause for a student to fail a class, regardless of grades.

The policy requires students to bring documentation from home concerning tardiness, absences and early dismissals. Students will be allowed to make up missed work, but it is their responsibility to make arrangements with teachers.

Teachers are required to complete certain forms about absences. After six absences, the principal is required to formally notify parents a student is in danger of failing because of attendance problems.

The policy gives students the ability to appeal an attendance failure, and it provides leeway for prolonged absences due to illness or other unavoidable reasons.

The School Board also discussed the recent Literacy Passport Tests scores. Chairman James Cady said he originally didn't like the standing Craig students earned in the statewide tests.

But "after I studied the results, after I looked more closely at this issue, I decided that I liked it better," he said.

Drops in the scores put the county schools third from the bottom among local school districts, Cady said. He noted that scores dropped statewide as well.

However, comparing the 1995 test results with the 1990 test results, he said, showed substantial and steady improvement for the county's students. During that period, statewide scores for all categories dropped .6 percent. For the same period, the scores in Craig increased 25.4 percent.

"That means we're 25 percent better than we were in 1990," Cady said.