Students are significantly affected by the school’s 85% attendance requirement. Under this policy, students must maintain at least 85% attendance in order to participate in school activities, including homecoming, sports games, and extracurricular events. However, students are not allowed to view their current attendance percentage, meaning they may not know whether they meet the requirement until they attempt to participate in an activity.

This policy can also negatively affect students who are absent because of illness or medical conditions. Even when a student has a doctor’s note or another valid medical reason for missing school, those absences can still affect their attendance percentage and potentially prevent them from participating in certain school events. This can be especially unfair to students who are more prone to illness or have circumstances that make regular attendance difficult. The rule has also been implemented under the circumstances that if a student had already completed their assignments/quizzes/tests for the missing periods/classes already, they would still have to attend Saturday school in order to make up their absence, whether or not the assigned work in the classes are made up or not. This rule is an extreme inconvenience, and incredibly unfair to students, and parents, as this rule does not prioritize educational benefits for students, rather prioritizing capitalistic beliefs. It is very clear that this rule is barely based on the education, and overall wellbeing of all students, but is instead solely and mainly towards capitalistic ideals and beliefs.

The school should reconsider or remove this policy because it can unfairly punish students for absences that are outside of their control. Students should have a clear way to view their attendance percentage and understand how it affects their ability to participate in school activities. The policy should also take legitimate medical absences into consideration so that students are not excluded from important school experiences because of circumstances they cannot control. Please sign so we can get this message to the school, and possibly change this rule, in order to benefit the wellbeing for all students on this campus. 

PS: This is NOT false information like the principal had stated in her email, students have been affected by this and all information is online/sourced from the Benicia High School 85 rule pamphlet (https://bhs.beniciaunified.org/families/rule-of-85/ ). I am a student at this school, and I have spoken with multiple other students who have expressed similar concerns about the 85 rule. Not every student has the time, money, or access to a medical provider to obtain a doctor’s note whenever they are sick. In some cases, students may only have a common cold or minor illness that does not require medical attention or a doctor’s visit. Requiring a doctor’s note in these situations can create an unnecessary financial and logistical burden for students and their families. Additionally, the doctor’s note and their absence is still considered excused, the absence will still count toward the 85 attendance rule.  Meaning even simply getting a doctors note would do nothing towards removing an absence off your 85 rule.  Their is possibility that the doctors note can be appealed, but its too much work and a time waste for everyone, and according to some students, the appeal does nothing at all. And yes, all this information stated in this paragraph is true.  Multiple students cannot participate in homecoming or games, even with impressive and exceptional grades. The school has continued to lie about it due to the fact they want to keep their reputation solid. This is extremely unfair and this 85 rule needs to be changed immediately. Please push this to the district or do anything that could possibly help contribute to getting this rule removed/revised as this is affecting students horribly.