Students can once again lose credit in a class for unexcused absences, principal Alan Goodwin announced on Whitnet Aug. 26.

This year’s attendance policy is similar to the Loss of Credit penalty from two years ago, but instead of a student automatically losing credit after five unexcused absences or fifteen unexcused tardies, counselors and administrators will work closely with the student to prevent absences.

The Board of Education decided to replace last year’s attendance policy, which only gave out zeros for missed work, because of a dramatic increase in absences across the county.

“All 25 principals were looking for a reinstatement of the attendance policy,” Goodwin said. “Whitman students basically go to class and do their work, but even we noticed it second semester.”

Under the new attendance policy, once a student has three unexcused absences in a class, the teacher will notify the student of the possibility of loss of credit, and the new automatic attendance system will email the student’s parents, counselor and administrator. The student and parent must then meet with the counselor and administrator to discuss reasons for the absences and determine how to avoid future absences.

After five unexcused absences in a class, a student will fail the course if he doesn’t choose to appeal his attendance record or follow an intervention plan designed by the administrator and counselor and continues to miss class.

The new policy allows counselors to determine whether skipping class is a real problem for the student, Goodwin said.

“What’s supposed to happen then is the counselor and/or administrator meet with students and say, ‘Hey, did you just forget to turn in a note?’ And then you clear it up so they’re excused,” Goodwin said. “Or you find out they skipped, you start addressing that, how they’re going to take care of it, and you create a contract.”