Absences are an issue at high schools all over Utah and the United States.

Timpview High School has held two forums on attendance as they work towards an attendance policy in which everybody at the school, from students to teachers, will play a role in making it work.

Chronic absenteeism is categorized as being absent from a class more than two times a term. Many students were surprised by how few times they needed to be absent before being deemed “chronic.”

Sixteen is the critical number. They stated that if you have 16 attendance marks then you may no longer be allowed to participate in any extracurricular activities. Students will be placed on a “ Non-Participation List” for extracurricular activities that occur outside of their assigned class: athletics, performing arts, clubs, dances, student government, school trips (field trips and overnight), etc.

A student will not be allowed to participate in activities until they recover their ‘mark’. You would have to get your attendance marks under 16 in order to participate again. You get attendance marks by being tardy, late tardy (16-30 minutes late), truant, and absent (31+ minutes late to class or parent/guardian has not granted permission to miss class).

You recover your attendance marks in Academic Recovery Class (ARC). The time spent in ARC differs by which mark you have. A “T” (tardy) is 15 minutes in ARC. A 3 (late tardy) is 30 minutes in ARC. An A (absent) is 60 minutes in ARC, and a U (truant) is 90 minutes of your time spent in ARC. As of now, they do not have an answer about where ARC is going to be held but it was suggested that the library can be used after hours or even an empty classroom.

ARC will be held Monday – Thursday before school (6:30-7:15), both lunches (30 minutes), and after school (2:30-3:50). Students who do not attend ARC will be placed in “In School Suspension.”

If needed they will be offering Saturdays for students who need to make up their marks. Students were told that on PowerSchool there will be a coloring system to show where you are in attendance. Green means you are currently in good standing. Yellow means that you should start checking your attendance and looking into going to ARC. Red means you are on the 16th mark or over and need to start attending ARC to reduce your marks. Teachers have been asked to notify your parents or guardians if you have 3 marks or more in their class.

A major student concern was whether or not they would have to spend time in ARC if there were simply a minute late walking into class. It was reiterated that tardies range from 1-15 minutes, so it is imperative that a student shows up on time.

Principal Tu’ua explained that tardies at the beginning of the school day (first period) can be excused by parents/ guardians because they understand that parking and having to rely on parents to get to school can be difficult.

How many absences can be excused? Technically your parents may excuse every absence, but a student must think about the instructional time they are missing. If a parent excuses an attendance issue within 72 hours then a student won’t have to spend time in ARC.

Next week there will be a forum on the night of parent-teacher conferences so parents have the opportunity to ask questions about how things are changing here at Timpview.

In return, if the students of Timpview are able to improve attendance rates then they will be awarded incentives. Grade levels can gain Spirit Bowl Points. They could possibly have a one lunch system run again, a dance after school, hoodies for every student, and/or early out on the last week of school.

All of this is going to begin Wednesday, March 15 at the Start of Term 4.