Failure of attendance accountability

VICKSBURG, Miss. (VDN) — This letter is regarding the failure of the Vicksburg Warren School District’s ability to keep track of our student’s attendance record, especially for our Senior students, the last stretch of their schooling education, what they have strived so hard for, for so many years. 

I am a graduate of Warren Central, Class of 2013. I remember my senior year and if it wasn’t for one person in the school who truly cared about me making it across that field and doing everything in his power to help guide me during what was one of the most exciting yet challenging years in my 13 years of school, I may not have walked the field. It was hard, speaking from experience, not everyone has easy years in school from bullying, learning disabilities, and trying to balance so much at such a young age, we nearly forget even though we are preparing these kids for what’s to come after high school we fail at remembering they are just kids still.

 For some,  school is a safe place from their home lives, as sad as that reality is, our schools provide a lot of kids with meals, with nurture from teachers, guidance that they may not be receiving that they thrive for more than we realize, so being at school, getting what they may lack within their home life, is overlooked. So, these kids that come to school to escape and to be in a safe place know that eventually they will no longer have the safe place of school because they will be graduating, which is wonderful! 

But now the rules as stated by the school district are, if more than 10% of a senior’s school year is unexcused, they cannot walk with their graduating class. 

Do I understand this rule? Yes, I do. 

Do I fully agree with this standard? No, I do not. 

Here is why I do not agree with this. A student that has put in 13, sometimes more, school years for this major moment in life because this is an important accomplishment for many students, to be taken away due to lack of accounting ability by the school. What do I mean? I have found numerous clerical errors in a current senior’s attendance record, claiming that this student has 22 unexcused absences.  Some yes can be explained and understood, BUT the ones that cannot be explained and the fact you have solid evidence supporting the mistakes that are reflecting towards the school attendance record, why should a student suffer at the hands of a mistake from those in charge? 

I do not think this rule should apply to everyone, especially regarding students who maintain A/B averages, which keep the district in good standing correctly? They are also exceptional students, no discipline issues, and maybe they are or not, but a lot of students are involved in our extracurricular activities, such as our State Champions football team, our Band, our Indoor percussion who has been to worlds competition, our soccer team, powering life, all these many wonderful programs that MANY of our students thrive in and that help get them through their high school years, we really are okay telling these Senior students, with good grades, good behavior, that “You cannot walk with your class because you have been marked unexcused too many times.” Rather it was looked into enough by the attendance counselors or teachers to verify 100% that they are solid in their information, we are okay ruining a child’s hope and excitement to walk with their classmates that they have tackled many school years alongside with over the fact we don’t have a solid accounting system in place for our students? If this so called standard is going to be in place then why is there not a halfway meeting held with the parents and students IF a student gets to that point no matter if its 2 months into school or 2 months before walking, why not have a more of a system to help keep these kids to walk instead of working to find ways of taking it from them.

I speak being a parent, a WC alumni graduate, an aunt, someone that remembers I too was that 18-year-old ready to walk across the stage with my friends and have my family watch me accept such a wonderful life alternating award. We should be doing more to encourage these students to WALK across the stage rather than provide rules to keep them from doing it. They are already limited to how many people are allowed to come watch them graduate which is another conversation and topic, but I speak for not just the class of 2026 Graduating but the future graduates to come. If our school district was so concerned about our students the way they are concerned about the school grades and the stats that the district holds in the state, there would be more of our students getting a valuable education instead of just pushing them into the real world quickly, so the district numbers look good. I hope this letter catches the attention that it deserves for the sake of our graduates, and I hope this will trigger the change needed for our students as they embark into the next chapter after high school. Thank you for reading.

Amanda Reeves