Makeup work policy needs updating and more uniform enforcement

By Maddie Nerad
Staff Writer

A seemingly constant stream of class trips and sports games results in students often missing class time. Due to this, they can lose class points, as they are forced to complete unfair amounts of work quickly because of haphazard enforcement of school absence rules.

While attendance is essential to a student’s success, the Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board of Trustees should revise and equitably enforce its current missed classwork policy to ensure students are not punished for excused absences.

Many teachers have their own absence policies in their syllabi. These policies often conflict with California Education Code and MBUSD policy by mandating the loss of participation points and eliminating the ability to make up missed tests or assignments.

According to Education Code 48205b, students with excused absences “shall be given the opportunity to complete all assignments and tests that can be reasonably provided,” and teachers should provide makeup work that is “reasonably equivalent to, but not necessarily identical” to the missed work. MBUSD builds on this policy by adding that “students who miss school work because of unexcused absences shall be given the opportunity to make up missed work. Teachers shall assign such makeup work as necessary to ensure academic progress, not as a punitive measure.” If work is completed within a “reasonable period of time,” students shall receive full credit. These statements are inherently ambiguous, but still, teachers shouldn’t abuse them. Because, as the policy states, unexcused absences can be made up in the same way excused ones can, and teachers need to be in accordance with this rule and treat all absences equally.

The current policy often fails when teachers and students disagree on whether makeup assignments are “reasonably equivalent” to original work. The district should add specificity to its makeup work policy so as to eliminate individual teacher loopholes and ensure a fair amount of equivalent work, regardless of absence type. This should include when an in-class discussion is replaced with a paper. According to Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale, if students feel the assignments are unfair, they should discuss it with their teachers. But too often, this conversation fails to solve the problem.

A specific appeals process in which a panel of administrators determines the equivalence of makeup work would protect students’ rights and ensure teacher compliance with Board policy. Not only would this protect students’ rights, but also it would also help avoid a potential lawsuit dealing with student absences.

Even when giving makeup work, teachers handicap students by eliminating curves on tests or docking extra credit points. Under current district policy, there is ambiguity over whether this violates students’ rights or not because of vague wording. But with more specific phrasing, it will become obvious that this hindrance is a violation.
The most important progress the administration could make on makeup work comes in uniformity. Teachers put individual standards for absences in their course syllabi, leading to discrepancies between overall district policy and individual teacher rules. The administration needs to take initiative to make all teachers aware of the actual policy and ensure that all syllabi have the same standards for absences no matter what the class.

Additionally, information regarding state and district policies should be available to students in the online student-parent handbook and the school planner. Having this information readily available would make students aware of their rights and able to defend themselves.

While teachers often use individual policies as scare tactics to prevent students from missing classes, this only works to a certain extent. Students will miss class regardless of the absence policy due to extracurriculars or illness, so it is important for teachers to know that they cannot assign punitive makeup work.

An equal and universal makeup policy needs to be enforced to protect students’ rights. Students should be able to make up work within a fair time frame that ensures their academic progress, rather than making them stressed.