High school seniors’ second skip day, set for Jan. 27, 2025, was unsuccessful because the event was discovered by administrators due to students releasing the set date too early.
Senior skip day is a tradition across high schools in America that encourages the graduating class to cut school for a day. Oftentimes, the date set has significance to the graduation year for the seniors and occurs in the spring, closer to graduation. These skip days are unofficial and are often not approved by administration; instead, they serve as a tradition.
At Aliso Niguel, the date is organized by one person or a small group of people. News about the affair is sent out online or by word of mouth. To make sure seniors are informed about the event, they must attempt to talk only amongst themselves.
However, these avenues to distribute information can cause administrators to discover the skip day and interfere, forcing students to attend school. In the past, the skip day was set for Senior Sunrise. Some criticized that the skip day was set “too last minute,” which left students with little time to prepare. On the contrary, others appreciated that staff would not be able to discover the event until after it had occurred.
Recently, information for the skip day was released multiple days before the set date, Jan. 27, 2025. The extra time helped students prepare to skip their classes but ultimately allowed staff to discover the event. Many students did not skip school for the set day.
Mrs. Holloway, in an email, says, “Please know that if you decide to skip class, you are ultimately deciding to take a zero… because there are no make-ups allowed at this time.”
This time, many teachers set no-make-up policies to prevent students from cutting class. Due to this factor, many students chose to still attend school and disregard the planned skip day.
Zachary Whitfield (12) says, “My teacher Ms. Fallman texted and emailed parents the day before the set skip day. She attempted to discourage parents from allowing their students to skip by setting a quiz for that day.”
Another issue with the skip day that may have caused teachers to be less lenient is the multiple skip days set throughout the year. For the graduating class, two dates have already been set, and based on last year’s seniors, it is likely that more may occur. Since the first date was set at the beginning of the year, teachers are less likely to be permissive.
To combat administrators from finding out about the skip day, students should release the information over the weekend. This gives students ample time to prepare, make plans and gain approval from their parents. In the future, students can take this approach to successfully plan a skip day and minimize the repercussions.
Another way students can prevent errors is by choosing a date closer to graduation so that losing points on assignments or tests may have fewer consequences near the end of the year. By setting a later date and limiting the number of skip days, the class is more likely to unify and all skip together.
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