Due to extraordinary class sizes, admin introduces “senior skip semester”

Everyone at McIntosh looks forward to senior year due to graduation and of course the “senior skip days,” but next year students will not have skip days. We will be having “senior skip semesters.” Seniors will be allowed to have semester’s worth of absences next year. 

Assistant Principal Amy Hammock talked about the administration’s decision to create this new rule.

“Our underclassmen sizes are going to be really large next year, so we’re trying to free up some spaces by letting seniors miss more days,” Hammock said. 

Assistant Principal Dan Lakly is looking forward to this change. 

“I’m really excited about the opportunity for seniors to be able to skip an entire semester as opposed to just days. Just think about how much more room we’ll have in the cafeteria and courtyard during lunch,” Lakly said. 

However, there are a few rules. Absences can not be consecutive. Students can not have more than a week of absences in a row. If seniors are gone for a full week they have to be there for all of the next week. If a student plays a school sport, they have to attend school in order to practice and play in games. If students are failing any of your classes the day of a game or practice, they will not be able to attend the game. Seniors also won’t be allowed to exempt any exams their first semester. 

This will allow seniors to get the amount of schooling necessary to pass their classes, but still allows them to have a lot of free time. 

Some seniors are angry that this is happening the year after they graduate. 

“I’m kind of mad that they didn’t allow that this year. I have a few detentions for missing too many days this year,” senior Angela Missiles said. 

Meanwhile, juniors are looking forward to this change. 

“I’m super excited about the ‘senior skip semesters.’ I already have terrible attendance so this will really help me out,” junior Alex Whittlemen said. 

Some people are worried about how this will affect student’s grades.  

“I’m kind of concerned that everyone will have really bad grades next year. If we are gone for a whole semester, we will probably miss a lot of texts, quizzes and important material,” sophomore Zachary Maiocco said. 

Some students won’t participate in this new activity. 

“My grades are really important to me, so I will not be able to miss that many days. At the end of the day, if people really care about school they won’t miss all that school. I have a feeling that the teachers won’t give seniors a lot of extensions on their work for the days that they miss,” junior Jocelyn McAllister said. 

Sophomore William Harris agrees. 

“I think that the ‘senior skip semesters’ will put a lot of people in danger of not being able to graduate. I think this will cause some people to fail their classes which will stop them from graduating,” Harris said.