Senioritis kicked in early this year. According to the ‘85 to Jive’ attendance spreadsheet, as of January 17 over 30% of seniors have an attendance rate below 85% compared to 13% of juniors, 12% of sophomores, and 11% of freshmen.
The new ‘85 to Jive’ policy states that students must have 85% attendance or higher to attend school dances, including winter formal and prom. This 85% threshold includes all absences, excused and unexcused. However, a student can talk to Lincoln’s student engagement and attendance coach, Edwina Koch, about any legitimate reasons for missing school. Koch can help the student form a modified plan.
Koch explains the importance of this policy and its intention.
“85% is around 25 of school days missed and that is research-backed … If you’re falling under that threshold you start to have mental health be impacted, grades be impacted and then people start to fall down this slippery slope,” said Koch.
Koch says the basic routine of going to school was impacted by the pandemic.
“Being online we were all taught we can do things at home, and so encouraging students to come back into the building and physically commit to being here every day has been extremely hard,” said Koch. “Our goal at Lincoln is to just recreate and find ways to foster that relationship where you have to commit to being here in order to succeed.”
Koch emphasizes the importance of the policy as a motivator to improve attendance because it is an alternative to suspension or expulsion.
“The dances are … the best thing that we can think of because they’re not a hugely impactful thing if you don’t go, but they also still matter to people,” Koch said.
Senior Ciara Crouse finds the policy somewhat frustrating as she has trouble focusing in class.
“When you’re taking a bunch of classes that all have projects [that] you can complete really easily, or it’s really hard for you to focus in school because [you aren’t] able to listen to music, or people [are] being loud, or it just not … the best place for you to work, it’s a lot easier to not go to classes and go somewhere else to work and be productive with your time,” said Crouse.
Senior Charlotte Cetnar-Cook believes that the policy may not be an effective motivator for all students.
“Maybe it motivates some people who are right around the threshold, but for people with really low attendance, I would guess it doesn’t impact them very much,” said Cetnar-Cook.
Crouse says that the policy does not motivate her to attend school more often.
“I don’t think it’s worth going to some of my classes just to go to a dance when I could be doing other things with my time,” said Crouse.
Crouse questions the shared knowledge of others’ attendance by student ID on the spreadsheet used to check one’s attendance percentage.
“It’s weird that it’s public knowledge…I’ve heard people being like ‘oh my gosh, try hard’ because a person has 100% attendance. I’ve heard a lot of different types of stuff like that,” said Crouse.
Despite the mixed feelings, Koch’s ultimate goal is to help students who struggle with attendance through policies like ‘85 to Jive.’
“Policies are a way to set culture and it helps get these ideas into students’ minds from all angles, from support staff, from educators, from myself, and from students,” said Koch.