Absent students get break on makeup work

Broward School Board votes to relax policy

Whether they’re out of school for the measles or the movies, Broward students can now get full credit for any missed work.

The School Board voted Tuesday to relax a 3-year-old policy that allowed teachers to give bad grades to students with unexcused absences. Under the old policy, students could be penalized 10 percent on tests they miss and get a D on homework they turn in late due to an unexcused absence.

That will change for the new school year. Students will now have two days to make up work, regardless of whether their absence is excused or unexcused. Teachers can extend the time but not shorten it.

This is the third time the district has changed this policy in four years. Teachers used to have discretion whether to allow make up work and how to grade it. Then in 2015, the School Board decided that was punishing kids with excused absences and required teachers to accept makeup work. A year later, after teachers complained of large number of students failing to show up for class, the district imposed academic penalties.

Most board members said they felt the policy should be revised after seeing statistics that they felt showed the policy isn’t working. Overall attendance rates have been flat, while unexcused absences have risen. Data also showed black and Hispanic students are absent the same amount as white students, but when it comes to unexcused absences, black students have 50 percent more and Hispanic students have 25 percent more.

“The numbers are alarming,” Board member Patti Good said.

Proponents of the change say parents of white children are much more likely to report their child has an excused absence, regardless whether it’s legitimate.

The change came over the objections of three board members, Donna Korn, Laurie Rich Levinson and Ann Murray. They sided with the Broward Teachers Union, which argued the change in policy makes it more difficult to penalize students who skip school.

Union President Anna Fusco said teachers know their kids and know which ones are out for valid reasons and which ones play hooky.

“Teachers need to have responsibility, control and accountability in their classroom,” Fusco said. “They take many hours of professional development, attend college courses. They have common sense. They know when students need to have work turned in.”