Kids skip school all the time for various reasons, like if they are too tired to go to school, they forget to do their homework or study for a test, or sometimes simply because they do not want to come. However, not all skip. Some students’ parents will not let them, they have too much work to catch up on already, or they just do not want to. Should students be allowed to skip or not?
Riley Body, a sophomore at Brighton High School, said, “I would skip because sometimes school stresses me out too much, and you need a break to just relax and be calm.”
For some, though, missing school actually causes stress. Gabrielle Giorgio, also a sophomore at BHS, disagreed with Body and said, “I would not skip because I will miss a lot of school work that I will have to make up along with the new school work. Missing stresses me out.”
A major day with lots of students skipping is senior skip day. Seniors at Brighton High School had their annual senior skip day on November 24, 2024. Despite teachers and administrators advising against students taking the day off, many seniors chose to participate. They were only excused if their parents called the office.
When asked if students should be excused on senior skip days, Kelsey Dunn, a senior at BHS, said, “No. I mean, I’d like the administration to, but no.”
Jack Oelslager, who is also a senior at BHS, thought the opposite. He said, “Yes, because then everyone would be able to skip on senior skip day.”
The truth as to why the administration discourages anyone from skipping is because they must uphold a total of 75% attendance in order to call it a full school day. If these requirements are not met, then they cannot count it as a full day of school. Eventually, it could lead to an extra day of school added to the end of the year.
Administration does not want kids to skip school, especially not an entire class of students, because it messes with their curriculum and scheduling. However, there is nothing that anyone can do to stop people from skipping.
Tracie Richards, the current senior principal, said, “We can’t stop parents from calling students in, and when they call in to excuse, we can’t say ‘you can’t do that, you have to be here.’ So it’s kind of hard to prevent something like that, but we understand students’ freedom and everything like that.”
