<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0R1l9s_1H65qYpU00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0R1l9s_1H65qYpU00" width="1000" height="667" ></figure>The 2025 Ohio Budget Bill included new requirements for school districts to address chronic absenteeism.These requirements were put in place Aug. 1. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce’s Office of Attendance and Family Engagement no longer excuses most absences. Their end goal is to reduce Ohio’s chronic absenteeism rate, which was over 23 percent last school year, 50 percent by the end of the 2028-2029 school year.Both the state and the school district have prioritized attendance because they believe it is key to student success.Math teacher Alex Fryberger explained the impact on students’ grades.“…In a lot of studies, attendance is the number one predictor for student success,” Fryberger said. The BHS policy (pages 21-23 of the Student &amp; Parent Handbook) hasn’t changed much, but school staff now face an extra challenge of explaining to families that BHS policy is different from state policy.The school also made changes to the Athletics and Extracurricular Handbook (pg. eight) to include tiered consequences for unexcused absences, preventing students who repeatedly cut class or accumulate unexcused tardies from participating in athletics.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4R0evo_1H65qYpU00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4R0evo_1H65qYpU00" width="923" height="692" ><figcaption>Scarlett Adler</figcaption></figure>Ohio law defines students as chronically absent when they have missed ten percent of their schools’ set number of hours. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce declares students chronically absent once they have missed 18 days of school, or 135 hours.When students meet this threshold, the school is required to send a letter to families to inform them that ten percent of school has been missed.The letter aims to deter students from missing school. State law requires schools to intervene once students hit the ten percent mark, but Assistant Principal Aubrei Watson tries to notify families even before students hit the five percent mark.“We try to intervene before that: make calls to parents, meet with students to see what’s going on and why students aren’t attending school for whatever reason,” she said.According to Watson, if a single absence is excused, the school doesn’t do anything about it. After the five and ten percent mark is hit, administrators schedule a meeting with the student and their parents to come up with a way to improve attendance.In Watson’s experience, students who are absent for multiple days are usually sick or on vacation with family.Watson finds it challenging to explain to families that even though BHS will excuse the absence, the state does not always excuse it.The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce has also created a new list of what is deemed unexcused and excused absences as interpreted by Ohio Administrative Code (as seen under section ‘B’). Their goal is to have every student reach their full potential in school.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3rYvLx_1H65qYpU00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3rYvLx_1H65qYpU00" width="600" height="371" ></figure><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=27yD7q_1H65qYpU00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=27yD7q_1H65qYpU00" width="600" height="371" ></figure>Students who constantly miss school have to play a game of catch up with the work they have missed.Director of Curriculum and Instruction and former BHS Principal Paul Chase explained that student absences affect both students and teachers.When students miss class, they are less likely to be successful due to school work piling up and feeling overwhelmed.“…Not showing up to school puts some pressure on the teachers to catch students up,” Chase said. “[And] in some cases it could be a financial burden to families because if you miss school and you fail a class you have to make up that credit [before] graduating.”In order to graduate, students need to fulfill their credits for each subject. If a student fails a class, they must pay for a credit recovery course. According to Chase, teachers have one common goal: making sure their students pass their classes. When students are absent, teachers have to find ways to get them caught up with their peers.It can be stressful for teachers to make sure a student understands what was done in class while they are absent. Teachers still have to grade classwork and homework while trying to support a student who is working on catching up.“…Kids who know they’re missing a bunch of pre-planned absences, you have to try the best you can [for the rest of the year] to be in school whenever you can,” Chase said.Beachwood’s policy excuses students for religious holidays when they are called out of school. However, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce only excuses up to three religious holidays per school year.BHS allows students who miss school for religious observance an equal number of days to the days missed to complete their make-up work.However, when more than three days are missed for religious observance, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce requires schools to talk to families about the expectations of attendance.According to Chase, when a field trip is school-sponsored, it doesn’t affect a student’s accumulated absences. The Dept. of Education and Workforce also states that the state will excuse the field trip or extracurricular if it is school-sponsored. Fryberger explained that everything students learn in school is a building block for the next thing. Students feel more anxious when they are playing a constant game of catch up.She also explained that regular attendance helps students learn when they are face to face with a teacher and can ask questions as they arise. When attending school regularly, students can also use academy time to get help on something they don’t fully understand rather than using the 25 minutes to catch up on a lesson.Fryberger says she has noticed fewer tardies in her classroom since the policy has become effective.It has especially had an impact on the athletes Fryberger teaches. She believes this is a result of the athletic department’s new policy and students knowing they can’t have three unexcused absences or tardies because it would affect their athletic eligibility.One reason for chronic absenteeism is student disengagement. Students may think that being at school for almost eight hours five days a week can feel repetitive. Administrators want a welcoming atmosphere for students. Building connections with peers can make each day something new and exciting.“I think it’s all about connections.” Chase said, “I think if people have good relationships and like what they’re doing, they work harder.”Chase wants students to show up to school with friendships they look forward to. He also wants them to keep an open mind, recognize their strengths and weaknesses, to be flexible and have resilience.Teachers know that making it to school can be a chore for some, but they want students to be engaged and discover new interests. Science teacher Jamie Lader sees coming to school as students’ job.He emphasizes that students have many things to look forward to in their futures like college, careers and families. Showing up to school and getting an education is a crucial step in being able to reach these goals.“I think that it’s just really important to make sure that they understand that getting a diploma from high school is the first step so that you can go on to do really whatever you want to do,” Lader said. Since 2022, BHS and the school district’s chronic absenteeism rates have been better than the state’s chronic absenteeism rate as shown in the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce’s report cards which can be found under the ‘Improvement’ tab.Athletic Dept. Policy on Unexcused Absences and TardiesA class cut is defined as missing an entire class period without a valid excuse. Three (3) unexcused tardies to any class shall be considered the equivalent of one class cut. Unexcused tardiness to school or cutting class will result in the following consequences: First Offense: Denial of participation in that day’s practice (if applicable) and the next scheduled contest/event following the infraction. Second Offense: Denial of participation in that day’s practice (if applicable) and the next two (2) scheduled contests/events following the infraction. Third Offense: Denial of participation for two (2) weeks of practices and contests/events following the infraction. Fourth Offense: Denial of participation in practices and contests/events for the remainder of the season. Students’ PerspectivesBetween new attendance policies at the state level and the new athletic department rules, some students feel that the stricter attendance rules this year have led to extra pressure as they try to balance school with the realities of daily life.Sophomore Max Crest believes the attendance policy is “really strict,” especially when it comes to tardies. Although he understands the necessity of attending class, he believes getting to class on time is not always in students’ control. “There’s definitely other factors,” Crest said. “Some of my classes are really spaced out on two sides of the building, so I have to walk all the way from one side to the other, and there’s always a lot of people walking in the hallway.”Crest cited crowded hallways, slow walkers and the need to use the restroom as factors that contribute to tardiness. Crest believes that students who are late are not always doing so intentionally; therefore, he feels that tardy rules should be more lenient. Freshman Nathan Yerukhimovich also feels parts of the policy are too strict, particularly when students are getting marked tardy for walking into class only a few moments after the bell rings. “I think that if you’re like two minutes late, they shouldn’t mark it,” Yerukhimovich said. “But if you’re like five minutes late, then yeah, they can do it.”Yerukhimovich also cited crowded hallways as an obstacle for getting to class on time. Yerukhimovich would like to see more flexibility with attendance consequences for athletes. He feels that attendance should not prevent students from participating, especially when circumstances are not fully in their control. “I also don’t think this policy affects all students equally since everybody comes from different backgrounds,” Yerukhimovich said. “Some students have to deal with external circumstances such as family responsibilities, transportation issues or health.”Some students acknowledge that absences can set them behind and that catching up can be difficult due to the accumulation of work piled up. “It is overwhelming,” Crest said. “My parents go on vacation a lot and I have to go with them, and I don’t like missing school because my grades go down, and I [end up with] a lot of work that I have to do when I get back.”Crest recognizes the benefits of stricter attendance policies that could prevent students from missing classes and getting behind. “I think it’s good,” Crest said. “They’re disciplining more students to put more effort into getting on time to classes and not just hanging out and skipping classes.”Junior Max Cannillo also recognizes the importance of students’ attending class, but feels the policy should not be so quick to assign detentions. “This new attendance policy is good because this year they’re taking a lot more action and they’re a lot stricter with it,” Cannillo said. “With that being said, I do think the policy is a little absurd in the way that you only have to have three unexcused tardies to get a morning detention.” One of Cannillo’s solutions was to provide more clear explanations of excused and unexcused tardies, allowing students to better understand what to avoid in the future. Cannillo also believes the policy could potentially affect the underclassman more than the upperclassman since underclassmen need more time to adjust. During the first week of school, administrators held an assembly that addressed the expectations for attendance for the school year. While the assembly brought the changes of the attendance policies to attention, some students feel that these issues need to be revisited. “This year they’re taking a lot more action and they’re a lot stricter with it,” Cannillo said. “I feel like maybe they should give reminders throughout the year, every quarter so students can potentially follow this policy better.”Still, Cannillo notices improvement in attendance since the policy took effect this year. “This year, I barely see anybody skipping class,” he said. “People are way more on time.”</div></body>

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The 2025 Ohio Budget Bill included new requirements for school districts to address chronic absenteeism. These requirements were put in place Aug. 1. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce’s Office of Attendance and Family Engagement no longer excuses most absences. Their end goal is to reduce Ohio’s chronic...

Ohio Cracks Down on Chronic Absenteeism

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The 2025 Ohio Budget Bill included new requirements for school districts to address chronic absenteeism. These requirements were put in place Aug. 1. The O

Ohio Cracks Down on Chronic Absenteeism

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