Working With Students: The New Attendance Policy

The new computerized check-in kiosks, which have been introduced to streamline the check in and check out process. Photo Cred: Brayden Howard

Brayden Howard, Sports Desk Lead for the Powderhorn.

Every day teachers call roll, and every day, classrooms sit in awkward silence as the student in question fails to appear. Student absences are a chronic and growing problem for school systems across the state, especially for one like Watauga, where students miss additional days due to the winter snow and ice year after year. The district’s tendency for snow days makes students being present on the days they can even more important, forcing administration to adopt a hardline approach to attendance. 

Starting this year, students with more than 15 unexcused absences will have their parking passes revoked.  In addition, students who have more than 5 unexcused absences in a class or more than 8 unexcused tardies overall by September 4 will not be eligible to purchase Homecoming tickets.

In the 2025-26 school year, the average student had 20 to 25 unexcused absences. These absences were especially concerning because Watauga has historically had a short year by academic minutes. The administration has chosen to take a multifaceted approach, enforcing stricter attendance requirements, and making FLEX now count as instructional time. This means FLEX counts towards total instructional time in a year, while also requiring FLEX absences to count towards a student's actual attendance record. Administrators also hope these changes emphasize the importance of FLEX to students who may not consider it significant. 

“If we’re looking at average [absences], that’s huge. So we have to have both that carrot and that stick. FLEX has become an academic period. It’s always been academic. I don’t want people to think that FLEX is just a waste of time. It’s not,” said Principal Scott Strickler. “There’s plenty of kids that it has helped get through classes. But by it becoming an academic period, it must now affect things like athletic eligibility. The flip side of that coin is that by counting it, it also counts for minutes during the day.”

Ultimately, these changes serve three goals: to get more instructional minutes out of the day, to encourage higher attendance rates, and to make students properly understand the intended value of FLEX. Some students, however, don’t spend the start of the day on campus, having either free blocks or Caldwell classes, complicating matters when it comes to FLEX requests.

“We’re going to have to iron out some stuff. If you get pulled five times a week, go talk to your teacher. If you’ve got Caldwell first period, a non-reporting second, and a 97 in third period, ask if you really need to come to that class for FLEX,” said Strickler. “Now if you have a 67, yes, you will get pulled to that third-period teacher’s class for some additional help. But if you’re staying up to date on your grades, you should be able to log into FLEX, and it says you’ve got CCC&TI for FLEX, which just means you’re off campus." 

Every student’s situation is unique, and for some, this includes being unable to consistently get transportation to or from school. The school system doesn’t wish to punish these students even further and is hoping to work with them to get attendance worked out one way or another despite potential instability at home.

“Realistically we just want kids to come to school,” said Strickler. “We’re worried about those kids that we don’t know where they’ve been. We don’t know if they’re sick. Their parents aren’t turning in any notes. Another part of this falls on students being upfront and honest with us, building relationships where they see student services as people that can help rather than just lay down the law.”

The role of student services to facilitate conversation and relationships between students and administration becomes especially important for those students who may be struggling in classes or at home.

“Issues with transportation is really just one branch on the tree, but meeting kids where they are and trying to figure out what’s going on at home, what can we do with student services and staff to help?” said school social worker James Hawkings. “Because at the end of the day if students aren’t showing up to school, we don’t know what they need. That’s why attendance is important for someone like me. It allows me to have those conversations with those students.”

But it’s difficult to have the stick without the carrot. The front office staff is actively brainstorming and working to decide on more positive incentives for attendance, but it’s a question difficult to answer without student input.

“I would love it if [students] contacted their Student Council representatives because every two weeks I meet with Student Council, and they send me a list of what they’re talking about. So if they could talk about attendance incentives, I could ask Ms. Wilson and Mr. Hawkins to join me and we can say ‘Okay, what would students like?’” said Strickler. “Because what I may think is fun, may not be fun to students. I got lots of stuff I can roll out, but I’m also not 17 and don’t necessarily know what you’d like. That’s what I think we need help from students with.”