The school recently made changes and updates to absence, detention, and suspension policies due to state wide laws dating to 2015. 

According to Illinois law, students, age six to 17, must attend school and miss no more than 5 percent of days without a valid reason as outlined in the law. The school upholds the state law and sees it as a way to protect the rights of the student body and ensure safety.

“We have the most logical policies. The reason there are deans is to change behavior,” said Mr. Sean Brennan, dean of students. Mr. Brennan explained how the deans are not there to pass out suspensions; consequences are based on past history and punishments slowly increase as students continue to break the rules. 

The absence policy requires that students and parents call the school ahead of time to inform them of the absence, or the student will receive an unexcused absence, which results in a detention. 

If a student is late in the morning and the attendance line is not called, the student receives a slip to the dean and if the student is late three times, a detention is issued.

“Getting detention makes me not want to be late, so I guess it works,” said Eric Miscimarra, junior.

The suspension policy works a little differently; students can get suspended for conducting illegal acts on school campus, bullying other kids and excessive tardies. For an out of school suspension the only requirement is that students stay home, for an in school suspension students sit in a confined room where teachers deliver work they need to complete and they must reflect on their actions.

So, while most students complain on how tardies can lead to a school suspension, the deans keep the policies in place to ensure students are in attendance for the state required time.