School Board Policy on Make-up Work

Laws and rules are never perfect. The founding fathers knew that well when they paved the way for new amendments to be added into the United States Constitution. School policies, although not as significant as the Constitution and its amendments, are also bound to be imperfect. A school board’s duty, however, is to make sure those policies are as perfect as feasibly possible. Unfortunately, the school board for Wayne High School has failed to accomplish this with some policies.
One such policy that can and should be shaped better is the make-up work policy “for absences that are unexcused (U Codes)” (Wayne 13). The current policy is that “[f]or absences that are unexcused (U Codes), make-up work will be accepted for evaluation; however, the grade recorded will be zero” (Wayne 13). To receive a U code, the student either has no “[v]erification for an absence [that hat to be] submitted within two school days” (Wayne 13) or if the student exceeded the “permitted six (6) authorized absence (P Codes) per semester” (Wayne 12). A P code is an authorized absence where a student hands in a “parent note identifying reason for absence” (Wayne 12).
On the surface, the policy may seem brilliant to some. Students, after all, would not be able to skip school on a day that a major project is due all in order to finish said project. Obviously, some students can devise ways to skip school while still getting an authorized absence (some students may be able to fake illness, while some parents may knowingly write a note excusing their child with a lie); but those who are unable to do so are bound to realize that a graded incomplete assignment is better than a zero on their report card.
The policy is great in preventing some students from commi...

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...rk could start the process of mending some of the holes within the policy. In case a student perceives his or her teacher as being unfair and too strict, than an additional body of school staff, which can perhaps consist of the teachers from the same department along with the school administration, can be called upon to hear the student's plea and make the final judgment call on the student's grade. Although this bicameral system contains some flaws, such as in instances as when the teacher is too lenient, the issues previously stated about the current policy would be handled at least to some extent. By incorporating the above system could prevent some of the students from ruining their report cards due to one unexcused but reasonable absence; besides, is it not the teacher's, not the administration's, duty to ultimately decide on a student's grade for an assignment?