by Alyssa Miller ‘13

Due to technical delays with the Pinnacle grading and attendance system, unexcused tardies and absences from the first marking period will not be counted against students.

“What the county had said was that the letters [notifying parents of unexcused absences] would be sent home to parents once students had three or five unexcused absences … But because the technology wasn’t up and running yet, they decided to have the first marking period be a grace period,” said Assistant Principal Terry Heintze.

Prior to the problems with the Pinnacle system, Sherwood administrators had warned students at the beginning of the year that those with five unexcused absences in a class would fail unless they filed an appeal.

Rather than completely disregarding the unexcused absences, the administrators have been meeting with students who had three or more unexcused absences from the first quarter. “What we’ll do is we’ll sit down with everyone and come up with strategies to help improve attendance,” Heintze said. Those strategies can include attendance contracts and parent conferences to discuss why the students have so many absences.

Despite the problems with the grading and attendance system, teachers have accepted that the improved system may take time to work properly. “[There has been] surprisingly not much of a reaction from the teachers. Most are resigned that the computer program didn’t work so something had to be done,” said math teacher Tim Altaner, who serves as one of the Staff Liaisons on the school’s Instructional Leadership Team. Other than the first quarter’s setback, teachers have found it easier to record unexcused absences than in previous years. “It will be a help to teachers in that they don’t have to keep track of which absences are excused or not. The system will do it for them,” said Altaner.

Despite the enhanced attendance system, students continue to skip classes or be late without passes, ignoring the threat of failure. According to data pulled by Heintze, 356 Sherwood students, more than 17 percent of the student population, had three or more unexcused absences in the first marking period. According to Attendance Secretary Janet Murphy, the number of unexcused tardies and absences hasn’t changed much since last year. “Tardies are just out of control,” said Murphy. “Kids need to be on time.”

Warning letters are expected to be sent out for students with three or more unexcused absences for the second quarter. The administrators and counselors will also receive a letter containing the names of students who have unexcused absences, which will be used to formulate intervention plans. “I hope that the interventions are effective and that the students will take their attendance seriously,” said Altaner. “I know that if the skipping class behavior continues into college, it makes it very easy to fail college classes.”