The announcement made by Ms. Escobar and Mrs. Velazquez at the annual Rules Meeting on Sept. 13 was met with a roar of boos, a roar so loud that it drowned out any other sound made in the auditorium.

  The attendance policy had apparently been changed per CPS policy; doctor appointments were no longer accepted as excused absences.

  “The change was made because when we were reviewing something completely different we came upon a CPS rule that gave you a list of absences that were excused and unexcused and under unexcused were doctor’s visits,” Community Relations Representative Ms. Escobar said.

  However Escobar also clarified that doctor notes for student illness would still be accepted.

  “In order to have your doctor’s visits excused, they have to be visits that you cannot schedule outside of school hours,” Escobar said.

  In a daily announcements email sent to students and their parents on Sept. 30, the administration said, “Lane respects that there will be instances of needing to schedule doctors appointments within the school day. We ask that if at all possible in support of your child’s education and our school community, that appointments be scheduled outside of the school day. However, we will support families by excusing early dismissals after receiving proper notes from parents/guardians.”

  Escobar said she hopes students will schedule doctor appointments outside of school if possible.

  Junior Matthew Migely, Div. 883, does not plan on scheduling his appointments outside of school and thinks for the most part students will ignore the change in policy. Migely found out about the change at the Rules Meeting and said he thinks the change is unfair because it seems to penalize students with serious medical problems.

  However, Escobar said that exceptions will be made for students if necessary and that if students are unsure about their situation they should talk to the attendance office first and not assume that their absence won’t be excused.

  “We don’t want someone not going to the doctor because they think they won’t be excused if they really need to be,” Escobar said.   

  If a doctor appointment cannot be scheduled outside of school hours, students can bring a note from their doctor explaining this, and the absence may be excused, but if a student does need to miss school for a doctor appointment they should fill out the online absence form instead of bringing a note to school, Escobar said.

  Senior Ami Anagnopoulos, Div. 754, said she has had two appointments in the past month and they were both excused by the attendance office. She turned in a note from her doctor with her absence note explaining her situation to the attendance office and they excused both absences.     

  Anagnopoulos said that notes written directly from doctors usually get excused, and said numerous others have turned in notes directly from their doctors to have doctor appointments excused.  

  While the change to the attendance policy was poorly received by the student body at the Rules Meeting, it appears that the policy will not have as great effect on students as first perceived, and original reactions may have been overblown.

  Escobar said the attendance office is very understanding and exceptions will be made if necessary, calming student fears that any and all future doctor appointments would be marked as unexcused absences.