GA High School Tennis rules

Alyssa Guo created a petition on change.org to protest the exam exemption policy.

Graduation looms a mere three months in the future, and seniors around Parkview are anxious to don their caps and gowns through the graduation procession, into their cars, and out of the lately crowded parking lots for the first and final time.

Hold on. Rewind a few days. Turns out, before seniors are able to receive their diplomas, many will have to complete their spring final exams, a burden they expected not to bear their final semester of high school. Many seniors look forward to this semester of high school for its “laxness;” however, dozens of 2015’s graduating class say that even after the stress of college applications, day to day school stresses to not relent as they work to maintain their grades and fulfill their requirements to graduation.

The only salvation to these seniors is the reward of sleeping in and lazing around while freshmen, sophomores, and juniors are taking their finals for four hours a day the last week of school.
Before receiving their senior benefits, students must fulfill a number of criteria listen in the back of the agenda books:

1. maintain an A average in every class one wishes to exempt (unless one is an honor grad with an overall A average)

2. remain a student in good standing without incurring any disciplinary action of ISS or greater

3. receive no more than three absences (3 tardies are equal to one absence) through the course of the second semester.

In other words, even after maintaining good behavior and stellar grades, students will be penalized for missing more than three days of school regardless of the reason. Because of the stringent exemption rules, a large number of Parkview seniors will not be able to exempt their finals for reasons they cannot control that result in their absence from school.

Maria Ortiz, senior, fell ill and was at the hospital for five school days, knowing that when she returned, no amount of doctor slips or parental notes would allow her to exempt her finals.

Whether they or a family member are at the hospital; whether they have surgery or a college visit; whether they have religious obligations or a chance to win thousands of dollars at a scholarship weekend, if seniors miss more than three days of school, they cannot exempt their final exams.

Many believe that this is a county-wide rule, but the three-absence rule is sadly unique to Parkview. Laura Chelaru, a former Parkview student who now attends Collins Hill High School states that CHHS students are allowed to miss five days of school, but she understands Parkview’s policy. “Excused or not, you’re still missing three days of class lessons, [but] when put together with other factors, it’s silly, ” Chelaru says, “I think they’re just trying to discourage senior skip days to have good attendance for county rankings.”