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Attendance Committee formed, consisting of parents, teachers and administrators. The committee created what became the 1996-97 attendance policy.
This policy was a tripod with three parts: “attendance credit,” attendance probation, and June exam exemption. The attendance credit is the attendance grade. The attendance credit has little actual numerical effect but a large psychological effect. The attendance probation is the stick, to deal with hard core probletns. The exam exemp- i' tion was the carrot, and the guts of the policy this Spring.
The exam exemption is available only for the second semester exams; there is no escape from the first semester exams — unless the school system itself cancels them, which it did twice in the last four years. Exemption from the second semester exam is possible with a “B” average and no more than three absences in that class for the semester. The committee looked for an incentive that the students really want, and they will really work for the June exam exemption. Many students earned exemptions. What does that mean? Many Rappahannock kids got good grades and attended regularly. That’s a good thing!
Repeated surveys show teachers support the policy. A recent survey asked if the policy improves academics. Answer: 18 “yes,” 1 “somewhat,” 0 “no.” For more statistical analysis, the number of student course failures decreased by 36 percent over
94.3%