This is well beyond general school stupidity. This is downright callous.

[Twilight Hue]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-poor-attendance-run-spend-two-weeks-off.html

I don't even know anymore on what to say. How low and despicable a school can get.

The human factor isn't even considered or special extenuating circumstances by which a givin policy is drafted where exceptions can be warranted.

This kid is going to grow up remembering this.

 

[Koldo]

I certainly expect the ones responsible for this situation to receive the proper ( and usual ) backlash.

 

[Quetzal]

Ozzie May, five, from Dartford, missed nine days of school after he was knocked down by a car, bringing his overall attendance below 96% - a figure that his school said was not acceptable.

Place sounds like a wonderful place to be... pompous jerks.

 

[Nietzsche]

I will accept their reasoning without complaint the moment they allow themselves to be run over.

 

[Quetzal]

I will accept their reasoning without complaint the moment they allow themselves to be run over.

Empathy?! No dice!

 

[YmirGF]

Though I have no problem with specific rules being enforced there should always be a built in exception clauses for things like this little boy went through.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I certainly expect the ones responsible for this situation to receive the proper ( and usual ) backlash.

Apparantly the administration dosent give a flying fig. Their response from my understanding thus far is, it's the rules. No exceptions.

From the sound of it, apparently nothing is going to change their minds. The kid is staying banned and that's it. I guess being layed up in the hospital writhing in pure anguish from being hit by a car is simply no excuse.

The admins must be so extremely proud of themselves that they didn't cave in to the rules they made. God forbid should they ever be viewed as weak minded when it comes to something like this.



.

 

[Twilight Hue]

It seems below 96% is simply not an acceptable threshold for good attendance.

I wonder is staff sick days meets the same stringent standards as the students?

 

[dust1n]

You would think that combating absenteeism would include distinguishing between excused absences and unexcused absences...

 

[SomeRandom]

I, for one, hope they receive all sorts of backlash. Truly appalling and despicable behavior.

 

[Valjean]

The intent of a law should trump the letter of the law.
now that the kid realises that law is capricious and purposeless he can be expected to have little respect for it, in future.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

now that the kid realises that law is capricious and purposeless he can be expected to have little respect for it, in future.

And it's a great way to teach that those "up there" are cold, faceless, and untrustable. And it'll probably be burned into his memory that lost out on because of his idiotic school.

 

[columbus]

'However, it is not practical to start making exceptions. We suspect it would result in appeals from other parents all putting a case why the school should excuse their children's absences.

Did anyone actually read the article? The boy wasn't banned from school, he missed a treat the school was using to address an issue that they had.
The school had an issue with attendance. A policy was put in place to try to fix it. It is unfortunate that the boy will miss a movie, but sometimes the rules need to be applied equally.
This looks like one of those times.
Tom
'There will be similar treats for pupils with good attendance at the end of the spring and summer terms, and I sincerely hope that Ozzie will be able to attend those events.'

 

[Shadow Wolf]

The school had an issue with attendance. A policy was put in place to try to fix it. It is unfortunate that the boy will miss a movie, but sometimes the rules need to be applied equally.
This looks like one of those times.

He was hit by a car. It's not like they can question if he was really sick enough to be missing school or just playing hooky. Exceptions to such extreme extraneous circumstances are often made in many places over many things. And people generally regard those who want budge as ********.

 

[averageJOE]

If the situation were different and involved a college kid I don't think I have too much pity because that's how the real world works. I wouldn't get a perfect attendance award for getting hurt outside of work. But with a 5 year old???? It's extreme and unnecessary. The school isn't teaching anyone any lesson here, just being jerks.

 

[Draka]

Has the school no excused absence policy at all? I'm sorry, but that is nuts.

In my city they just recently seem to have changed their policy this year, probably due to enough parental griping. It use to be that they did "verified" and "unverified" absences. A doctor excuse was verified while a parent calling off was unverified but both were still considered absences on their record. Just if there were so many unverified then it warranted social worker involvement.

Now they actually went back to the "excused" absence system they use to have years ago. If there is a doctor excuse it doesn't count against their attendance record.

My daughter was out of school for a week due to surgery and she has no absences on her record. I simply don't see how one can hold a child's attendance against them for the reason of being medically/physically incapable of being there.

 

[columbus]

Has the school no excused absence policy at all? I'm sorry, but that is nuts.

Did you read the article?
The school had an absenteeism problem. So, as a way to help with that, they offered a treat at the end of a term for the kids who were at or above 96% attendance. That is all that this is about. Nearly everyone thinks that is unfair.
I think the kid is learning to use victimhood as a tool, myself.
Tom

 

[Valjean]

I read the article. The law, apparently, was badly written and failed to take into account unexpected situations like this which fall outside the intent of the law.

Laws are made to serve man, not man, the law. If the application of a law contravenes its intent the application is unjust.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

You would think that combating absenteeism would include distinguishing between excused absences and unexcused absences...

Schools are allowed to authorise absence eg due to illness, so I'm not clear why this absence wasn't authorised. Usually it's only unauthorised absence which is seen as a problem. https://www.gov.uk/school-attendance-absence/overview

I used to be an education social worker and school attendance was something I had to work with regularly. You get some bizarre excuses for why children aren't in school, in one case a child had been to a grandmother's funeral on at least 3 occasions, on another occasion the cat had run off with one of the child's socks....

 

[Rick O'Shez]

You would think that combating absenteeism would include distinguishing between excused absences and unexcused absences...

It does, the distinction is between "authorised" and "unauthorised" absence, the school makes a judgement. That is what is puzzling in this case. It might make sense if the child had a history of truancy but that doesn't seem to be the case here.