Due to a district policy, attendance has been tied back to final exceptions. Students can have a maximum of four absences a semester to be able to exempt final exams. The district has implemented this to address the drop in attendance after COVID. However, the change has frustrated students.

Sophomore Kailyn Suarez is one of several students who has already missed four or more days due to illness.

“I didn’t want to [miss school] because I really want to exempt my finals,” said Suarez, who had pneumonia during the second week of school. “But also I don’t want to come to school sick and get other people sick. And it’s like I’m not wanting to stay home, because I really want to come here and see my friends, but also I don’t want to get them sick. It’s just annoying.” 

To discourage sick students from spreading germs at school after COVID started in 2020, the district stopped tying attendance to exemptions. Prior to 2020, kids could only have three unexcused absences and still exempt.

Students were first told about the policy change during advisory the first week of school.

“Overall motivation is we want kids in school,” principal Wes Solomon said. “We believe in kids being here every day. We think schools have a positive impact, and attendance just helps. The exam exceptions provide another factor, ensuring that we maximize our time with kids on a daily basis.”

Chronic absenteeism increased across most districts since COVID, but Humble’s numbers were especially high. To qualify as “chronically absent,” students missed at least 18 days in a school year. According to the Houston Landing, 22 percent of Humble ISD students were chronically absent in the 2022-23 school year. That was an  increase of 13 percent since the 2018-19 school year. The only Houston-area district with a higher increase over the same four-year span was Houston ISD. 

According to Humble ISD’s assistant superintendent of high schools Dr. Todd Hicks, the district decided on the four-day rule by comparing other districts’ policies and using that as a guide.

“The goal of the policy is to provide an incentive to students to focus on their academic success,” Hicks said via email. “A portion of that strategy is to assist students in understanding the importance of not only attending class, but to also instill the importance employers place on punctual attendance as students transition from the public-school setting to the workforce.”

Excused absences that still allow students to exempt exams include school-related events, college visits and doctor visits if the student attends school for part of the day. Absences that do count against exemptions include parent emails and an all-day absence with a doctor’s note. 

“[When I first heard about it] I thought it was kinda dumb,” senior Madison Wilson said. “As a person that does get sick and has doctor appointments quite regularly, I didn’t know how I’d [manage] that and [exempt] finals.”

Wilson had an ear infection for over two weeks in August. While it was not contagious, it still made learning hard. If the old policy was still in place, Wilson said she would have stayed home a couple of days and thinks her ear infection may have healed faster.

“It just makes it harder to stay focused when teachers are talking and, [I can’t] like, fully hear what the teacher actually has to say,” Wilson said. “So sometimes I have to ask a friend what they actually said, because I’m not sure.”

As dictated by state law, a student can come to school with a doctor’s note. If they attend at least 15 minutes of class on the day the note specifies, they can then return home to recuperate with the entire day being an excused absence.

This year, school nurse Mary Fischer said there have been some recorded cases of strep and flu, some doctors diagnosed upper respiratory viruses, and several cases of COVID. If students get COVID or any other feverish illness, they are supposed to stay home until they are fever free for 24 hours without any medication. 

Students worry that their classmates who are getting sick are not always following those guidelines. Fischer advised students to wash their hands, use hand sanitizer if soap and water aren’t available, keep hydrated, eat proper meals and get plenty of rest. 

“Anytime our body is compromised from stress or lack of sleep or lack of food, it does give our bodies the opportunity to become ill,” Fischer said. “So just optimize your bodies by doing all the good things.”