Senior Sunrise, the first major senior event of the school year, was on Monday, Sept. 22, from 6 to 8 a.m. Many seniors planned to skip school afterwards and spend the day with each other instead of attending classes. Aliso Niguel teachers and administrators heard of the plan and tried to prevent it.
The result was that some students skipped school on Monday, and another group of seniors tried to quickly reschedule it to that Friday, but on both days, many seniors still attended school.
Aliso Niguel Principal Dr. Mahindrakar sent a voicemail to senior parents over the weekend before the planned Monday ditch day to remind them that their students are not allowed to skip school if they cannot attend.
He noted that the number of students calling out on the same day would make it difficult for the office staff, and some people could get marked absent even if they were called out and reminded of the policy of making up work.
Dr. Mahindrakar said, “Unofficial absences do not have to be honored in assignments or tests, given that they cannot be made up.”
Multiple teachers had previously planned major tests on that Monday of Senior Sunrise in hopes of preventing any widespread skipping, and as a result, the ditch day was largely unsuccessful.
Not only do ditch days affect which activities the teachers can do in their classes, but they also lower the funding for the school since some money is based on attendance.
Dr. Mahindrakar continued, “It does not impact teacher or staff salaries, that’s guaranteed for the school year, but what it does impact is the site budget, which we use directly for students. So when they do ditch, it impacts what we can use to support their programs and activities and curriculum.”
Sloan Lorenzo (12) said, “I believe that senior ditch days are as bad as admin makes them out to be because of the crazy amount of money that it costs the school. Although this could be prevented if parents understood senior ditch days are fun for their kids and called them out of class rather than straight up ditching class.”
While the administrators and teachers at Aliso believe that students should attend their classes every day, the majority of seniors do not think it is harmful to plan senior ditch days. In fact, it is a fun way to celebrate senior year together as long as the days are organized where everyone can participate and not too frequently that the school loses money.
Lorenzo added, “I think that senior ditch days can be organized to be done better and more fun days, such as hot beach days planned for days without tests.”
If seniors can plan one fun ditch day per semester, which would be significantly fewer than last year, they would get the feeling of skipping together with their friends without harming the budget for future events.
