Did COVID Teach Us Anything About School Attendance?

Summary

The article discusses the failure of schools to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic by reinstating attendance policies that encourage sick children to attend school, potentially endangering the health of others.

Abstract

Despite the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools are reverting to pre-pandemic attendance policies that incentivize students to attend school even when ill. These policies, which include rewards for perfect attendance and penalties for exceeding a certain number of absences, ignore the public health lessons learned during the pandemic. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is promoting attendance through its iAttend program, offering awards and incentives for zero absences without emphasizing the importance of staying home when sick. San Pedro High School's strict attendance policy, which includes excused absences in the total count affecting eligibility for school activities, exemplifies the problem. The article argues that technology implemented during the pandemic for remote learning should be utilized to allow sick children to learn from home, thereby protecting the school community.

Opinions

The author believes that it is a "really bad idea" to send children to school when they are sick, as it can have devastating consequences for individuals with compromised health.
School attendance policies are criticized for encouraging sick children to come to school, with perfect attendance awards and punishments for missing school seen as counterproductive to public health.
The author is critical of the LAUSD's iAttend program for promoting a definition of "Excellent Attendance" that does not account for necessary absences due to illness.
San Pedro High School's attendance policy is viewed as particularly problematic for including excused absences in the total count, thus penalizing students who are sick.
The article expresses frustration over the district's failure to utilize remote learning technology developed during the pandemic to accommodate sick children.
The author suggests that if students in Ukraine can learn remotely during a war, then students in Los Angeles should be able to do so to protect their community's health.

Instead of learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, schools are returning to attendance policies that encourage children to come to school sick.

“Schools should also provide excused absences for students who are sick, avoid policies that incentivize coming to school while sick, and support children who are learning at home if they are sick.”

- Centers For Disease Control

It should not have taken a worldwide pandemic to convince us that sending children to school when they are sick is a really bad idea. What seems like a harmless inconvenience to a healthy child could have devastating consequences for someone else whose health is compromised. This could be the child’s teacher, classmate, or family members of those in the classroom.

Unfortunately, school attendance policies often encourage sick children to come to school. Perfect Attendance awards incentivize children who do not skip school even when they should. Even worse, some schools punish students for missing “too many” days of school with no exception made for excused days off. Students who exceed their allotment of sick days may be denied the opportunity to walk the stage at culmination or graduation ceremonies or to participate in after-school activities.

While many of these policies were smartly suspended during the COVID-19 crisis, they are now starting to return. As the coronavirus becomes part of the new normal, common sense preventative measures are being jettisoned and the message to stay home when you are sick is being lost.

San Pedro High School takes its attendance policy one step further by requiring that students “maintain an in-seat attendance rate of 96% or better to be eligible to participate in school activities.” Most notably, “absences that have been excused/cleared ARE INCLUDED in the total count.” No exceptions are made for students who are sick with symptoms of COVID-19. Students who exceed the allotted number of absences cannot attend the Winter Formal, Homecoming, Senior Prom, Senior Field Trip, Senior Activities, or Graduation Ceremony.

It is understandable that we want to encourage students to be in school whenever possible, but we can do this without endangering the health of our school communities. The district needs to include health warnings with its messaging and San Pedro High School must not punish families that do the right thing.

What is most frustrating about the situation is that the district is not using the technology that it was forced to put in place during the COVID shutdown. Many school districts in the east and midwest have eliminated snow days, opting instead to switch to remote learning when roads become unsafe. Has the LAUSD abandoned all the work (and money) that went into creating the remote infrastructure, or is it still possible to use it to accommodate children who are staying home because they are sick? It seems to me that if students in Ukraine can learn remotely during a war, students in Los Angeles can also do so to protect their classmates, teachers, and other families.

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Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for students with special education needs and public education. He was elected to the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and is the Education Chair. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.

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Did COVID Teach Us Anything About School Attendance?

Instead of learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, schools are returning to attendance policies that encourage children to come to school sick.