[dropcap]A[/dropcap]ttendance has always been a big issue at San Luis Obispo High School (SLOHS). To counter students skipping class, the attendance policy at SLOHS has become much stricter over the past few years. While the more stringent policy has helped, it has not been clearly laid out by the administration.

A letter was sent home by the administration outlining the changes to the attendance policy and emphasizing the need for parents to excuse their students before the end of lunch, should the student not be returning to school. And that if the student was not excused, they would receive a cut and be forced to attend Saturday school.

I strongly opposed this change to the policy and was also confused as to why a single cut fourth period resulted in Saturday school, when normally it would take three cuts to receive Saturday school. I also oppose parents being unable to excuse the student. However, after interviewing Dean of Students, Aaron Black, I came to understand the changes to the policy and what they really mean.

Black clarified that the policy change was to give the administration the ability to punish students that leave school at lunch and have their parents excuse it later. Truancy is constituted by “three or more unexcused periods or days,” said Black. While truancy levels were at 65 percent from 2012-2013, they fell by 15 percent from 2013-2014.

According to Black, students’ leaving after lunch has long been an issue, but since the changes to the policy, no students have left fourth period without their parents excusing them by the end of lunch.

Black also clarified that Saturday school is given on a case by case bases, not in every instance. This new information completely changed my opinion on the new changes to the policy, but brought a new wave of constructive criticism. Significant changes to the policy such as these should be very clearly stated, as to limit students’ confusion.