I share this story as a high school senior with mental health challenges. School, as challenging as it is, becomes even more difficult when absences due to health-related issues cause us to be penalized, despite maintaining exceptional grades. My story is not unique. Many of my fellow seniors are dealing with unthinkable circumstances due to the harsh weather. As we speak, some are unable to attend school simply because they have no water due to frozen pipes at their homes.

It is unjust to hold students accountable for factors that are beyond their control, and this is particularly poignant in a pandemic-hit world fraught with new and unforeseen challenges. Metro Nashville Public Schools' policies currently allow a limited number of absences before a student is prohibited from being exempt from exams (3 absences on a block schedule and 6 absences on a traditional schedule). This brings unnecessary added stress on us who have block schedules and who already face extraordinary obstacles in our daily lives.

According to the Journal of School Health, increased absences elevate stress and have been linked to lower overall performance (Journal of School Health, 2018). Despite this, students like us, who maintain admirable academic records, are being disciplined and potentially damaging our mental health.

This petition's goal is not to encourage kids to miss more school or to give truancy a greenlight. This petition is to help students who have mental issues, home problems, family emergencies, etc. but also have extraordinary grades and deserve to be exempt. Some students can't help but miss a few days in a whole 5 months; kids get sick, family members die, cars stop working... Its not the children's fault. Life happens. Some students, like myself, have depression or severe anxiety attacks that stop them from coming to school. Missing no more than 3 days in 5 months is quite unrealistic; although some students achieve it, all students lives are not the same. Please help us change this part of the exemption policy so that us with A's and B's can be rewarded, not penalized. 

We urge the Metro Nashville Public Schools administration to reconsider the current absence rules and extend the absence threshold that stops seniors from being exempted from exams. We're proposing it go from 3 a semester to 5 or 6 a semester to become equal to traditional scheduled seniors. This change ensures that students are evaluated based on their academic merit and not on their inability to attend school due to circumstances beyond their control. Some children have things going on in their personal lives that they cannot control that stop them from coming to school, but with astonishing grades, they should not be punished for missing all of THREE days in a whole semester. Help us get as many signatures as possible to fix this issue. If you feel you cannot sign the petition due to possible retaliation, please just share it with someone who can. Thank you.

Please sign this petition and help us bring about a much-needed change.