Finals Exemption: Clearing Class Confusion
By: Isabella Bagnaro
At the start of second semester, the preexisting finals exemption policy was widened to underclassmen. In hopes to communicate what the policies guidelines were, site principal David Beiler sent an email to the entire student body. After this official email announcement, I found that I, along with many of my peers, were riddled with confusion on what absences counted, how they were counted, and what is excused.
In the same email, Mr. Beiler instructed students to go to their attendance principles with any inquisitions. I, like many of my peers, was hesitant to seek admin to ask any questions out of fear of appearing dumb or being a nuisance. I did what I thought to be reasonable and I asked my teachers my questions regarding the policy only to find that they too were confused, and had concerns regarding students prioritizing missing their finals over taking time when sick. One of the reasons for confusion is that situations that would normally call for an excused absence such as doctors appointments, are not excused when it comes to final exam exemption even with a doctor's note. This element of this policy has seemingly caused students abundant stress and even caused students to come to school ill when they should be resting and prioritizing their health.
To clear up my and the student body’s confusion and concern, I set up a meeting with Mr. Beiler. To ensure I asked the “right” questions in our meeting, I surveyed Jenks High School students via a google form posted to social media to gain a concept of what they specifically wanted answers to.
The following graphs illustrate results from selected questions from the survey.
This graph shows that 66.7% of responding students have questions about the new finals exemption policy.
This graph shows that 73.3% of responding students are confused by what absences count against finals exemption.
This graph shows the reasons why students haven't gone to admin with their questions about the new finals exemption policy. If you add the categories that have to do with students not feeling comfortable (blue and green) 60% of responding students do not feel comfortable going to admin with their questions. When teachers themselves are confused, and the student body doesn’t feel comfortable going to admin, it is understandable why this confusion has continued for so long since the announcement of the new policy.
The first resource you can look at is the student handbook. If you are like me and had no clue where to find the student handbook, it is under the “JHS 24-25” Cavas course. That will bring you to the homepage, where you will click on “student resources” scroll down, and click on “student handbook” and finally click on “central campus.” You will be brought to the pdf version of our student handbook. Once you get to the student handbook, on page 25, under “Testing at the High School” number 8 states that “Students grades 10 through 12 may be exempted from taking second semester final exams based upon the following conditions:
Semester grade average of an “A”
Student is not on the Hold List
Students grades 10-12 may not have more than four absences prior to the date of testing. (School activity absences are the only absences not counted towards the four absences.)”
Though I found this relatively helpful in setting the baseline of the policy, it didn't answer any of the student body’s real questions, or my own. So I went to the source: Mr. Beiler.
“This exemption policy is not new, for seniors. It’s new for sophomores and juniors," said Beiler. He went on to elaborate that their main reason for widening the policy to underclassmen was out of consideration for those who are in classes with mixed grades.
When asked about why doctors and dentist appointments are not excused in the policy as they would normally be for absences (given that you hand in a note) he replied, “Unfortunately those absences [doctors appointments] will count towards the four that they are allowed to have.” He went on to explain that this element of this policy has always been a challenge for administration. This exemption policy, though it has been altered several times, has existed “Beyond the seventeen years I have been at the high school,” said Beiler. Part of why elements of the policy haven’t changed, and why it was originally only for seniors is because this policy is a longstanding tradition.
Many students wondered why school activities are pardoned, but all others are not, and the reason for this is administration sees school activity absences as part of the school day, because you are participating in school-related activities. Even if they take you away from your classes. “School activity absences are related to school sponsored events, and it’s really still part of your school day. That’s why those don’t count as absences,” said Beiler.
There is an underlying issue with this policy that existed before it was extended to include both sophomores and juniors. The policy including almost 2,000 more students just heavily amplified it. Jenks High School students - for a variety of reasons - are more inclined to come to school ill to be exempt from finals then prioritize rest or their health. This has affected the health of students and teachers, several of which have expressed concern for this. Putting off doctor's appointments due to limited scheduling is another piece of this problem. It appears that it isn’t students necessarily desiring to “skip” difficult tests, but fear for how the exams may affect or plummet their grades. Jenks strives for excellence, but pushing that to an extent can cause harmful effects such as this. Having the opportunity to not take your spring semester exams is a gift, but I believe we could improve it by allowing for doctors notes to be excused. I understand there are reasons for why the policy has remained relatively intact, but it is something that may need to be changed.
