Once in a while, there is a day at Bethpage High School where tons of seniors choose to skip the school day. For many seniors, it’s a chance to have some fun or get some deserved rest. But while students see it as harmless fun, many teachers have voiced their concern on the effects it may have on students. The Eagle’s Cry went around school and asked teachers and seniors to express their opinion on skip-days.
Teachers:
Mr. Whittemore: “I think sometimes it is unorganized and it’s not the entire group that skips, so it affects the ability to give a proper lesson. When they’ve done it in the past, usually it was a standard day like after Memorial Day, and we could all understand ahead of time and plan for it, and the people who weren’t here were usually the ones with attendance issues. When they do it more impromptu or when not everybody subscribes to it, it just affects the flow of the day for all the teachers and I think it’s a disadvantage for the kids also.”
Mr. Laspina: “Well first of all, you said it’s senior skip-day, so my opinion is if there was one day that seniors were absent it wouldn’t be a big deal- but we don’t really have a senior skip-day, do we? Bethpage has never had a senior skip-day. There’s never been a day where all the seniors decided ‘we’re not going to go to school.’ Instead we have a few days when lot’s of kids are absent. I’ve had seniors in class who say ‘Oh, I didn’t know a bunch of kids were going to be absent today. I didn’t know that today was senior cut-day,” and I told her, “Well that’s because it’s not senior cut-day because if it was you would know, but you’re a senior.’ The other senior in the class also didn’t know which means it wasn’t really a senior cut-day because not all the seniors do. We’ve had days where thirty to forty percent of the seniors were out which is kind of a problem because it happens on more than one day, and then these kids are stressed because they have work to make up, and teachers are annoyed because sometimes they move tests and assignments because half the class is out which I never do. I think if we’re gonna have a senior cut-day, the seniors are gonna have to get their act together and actually pick a single day probably in the spring to all not show, not just twenty, or forty, or even hundred kids not showing up in one day, cause that’s not a senior cut day, that’s just a day when forty, fifty, or sixty percent of the seniors happen to decide to not go to school.”
Ms. Garvey: “I think seniors should have one day together where they all skip. Not a whole bunch of little ones where half the class skips, and not just a whole bunch scattered throughout the year.”
Mr. Musto- “I think that if students work hard throughout the course of the year, then they should be rewarded. I don’t think there should be as many as there currently are, but I am a firm believer that if students work hard and their grades are reflective of their work in class, then everybody does deserve a break once in a while. I think instead of there being a senior skip-day, I think it would be better if there was a day set aside for more rewarding the students. For example, like if you had a 3.0 average or higher then you can skip school. I don’t think there should be a cut day because the students that are not doing well, need to be in school.”
Current Seniors:
Aleena Hussain: “I like the concept of it because I understand that seniors have a little bit of privilege since they’ve been in school for years and it’s their final years of education. So we kind of do deserve it, but I also think it’s kind of unnecessary, because you can skip any day you want and you have 20 absent days. So why not just skip any other day, instead of doing it collectively.”
Riya Ana Eby – “I like senior skip-day because it gives seniors a day off, because it gets really stressful during college applications and stuff. We’ve been doing it for a while so it should keep going, cause it’s a good idea. I don’t think senior skip-day should ever end and I think it should carry on in the future. I feel bad for the attendance ladies cause it’s tough on them, but yeah it’s good for us seniors.”
Feel free to voice your opinion down below in the comments!
