Starting this year, Dinuba High School will be going through a significant change that could affect many students. This change is that Saturday school is being offered fewer times than in previous years.  While this may seem like a minor adjustment, the students who have many unverified absences will have fewer opportunities to remove their negative attendance marks. Having fewer opportunities for students to make up their absences would cause them unnecessary stress.

Saturday school has served as a way for students to make up unverified absences and avoid the troubles of being ineligible to walk the stage during graduation. When attendance is tied to the ability to walk on stage, many students start to worry about their own attendance. Having the ability to take off these negative marks can really help students out. However, reducing Saturday school this year would lower the chances of some students being able to clear out those negative marks. With this reduction of Saturday school dates, the absences will remain unaddressed, leading to negative attendance marks, which would impact the student’s graduation ability.

I believe that Saturday school should remain the same as it was in the years before. It has helped me discard some of my negative attendance marks, which really got rid of the stress of having to deal with them later. It’s also not fair to the students who aren’t in control of their attendance for personal reasons. When those students who have busy schedules or limited transportation aren’t given frequent opportunities to make up for their attendance, they tend to become stressed out for their future. Keeping the frequent Saturday school sessions ensures greater accessibility for the students who need to clear their unverified absences.