Adams seniors recently organized their second “senior skip day” of the school year on November 1. The seniors’ organization of two skip days before the end of the first quarter has raised a lot of controversy within the Adams community.
Students and faculty members at Adams have varying opinions about skip days; some feel that multiple skip days in such a short period is way too ambitious, some feel that there should be no skip days at all, and others feel that the frequency is right where it should be.
Senior skip days are a common occurrence at many high schools. Although some seniors don’t skip on that day, skip days are often celebrated once a year as the school’s senior class will skip a day of school in exchange for a fun activity for the whole grade.
However, this year’s senior skip days at Adams are looking a bit different. Instead of gathering as a grade to enjoy a day away from school, most just took the day off. Many students spend their skip days sleeping in, playing video games, or hanging out within the comfort of their own home.
“Senior skip days should be more of a community thing. I’m not for it, but if you are going to do it, everybody should skip,” said an anonymous Adams teacher. “It should be organized to where the entire class gets together and skips and does something together.”
Additionally, the skip days are typically planned to occur after big events; the first skip day this year was the Monday after Homecoming, and the second the day after Halloween.
Although students may be exhausted from the events of the days prior, the expectation is still to attend school. But, what makes it easier for kids is the ability to miss class without consequences. As long as a student has a justified absence, kids get time to make up work, so for many kids, skipping school doesn’t have a negative impact.
“The skip days we have right now that are planned, like the Monday after homecoming and the day after Halloween, along with the one or two that are in the spring, are fine,” said Adams senior Demetri Karras. “But too many more after that might be too many for the teachers to compensate.”
To combat this, some teachers, many of whom are aware of when senior skip days will likely occur, have taken measures to reward students when they attend school on these days. Often, they will provide a quiz or assignment exclusively for the students in attendance, as a form of easy extra credit for choosing to attend class.
“[Instead of] half of them skipping, the entire class should get together and skip, so the teachers don’t have to come up with something to do with half the class or run a pop quiz to punish the kids that are not there,” said the anonymous Adams teacher.
Despite these efforts, large numbers of seniors still choose to skip. The question is: will there be other measures to promote change in senior attendance on skip days, or will these days remain a common occurrence?
