Holden Miller, Luke Randall, and Bobby Sweeney
Every public school in Virginia undergoes state-run tests to prove whether or not they are accredited in certain subjects. Accreditation is given to schools that meet state mandated requirements to ensure that schools are educating students.
There are three levels that a school can be graded. At level 1, the school is fully accredited and needs no aid. At level 2, the school is close to meeting the requirements to be accredited but needs some change in direction to gain its accreditation. At level 3 the school needs state-led assistance to get it’s accreditation back with some serious reforms to school policy and behavior.
There are different subjects and sections each given an accreditation level, including Math, Science, and English. Attendance is also considered in accreditation that T.C. Williams struggles with, just barely holding on to its Level 1 rating. With the changes in the way the state evaluates schools, it is only getting harder for T.C. to stay accredited.
In the updated statewide policy, excused absences and unexcused absences are viewed as the same to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE); both count as absences that bring down accreditation score. This new policy now means that the attendance problem does not fall on the shoulders of the truant, but the students that have doctor’s appointments or family emergencies.
These new policy changes are the first time student actions are a driving force behind whether or not the school gets accredited. A loss of accreditation can negatively affect students as as colleges may disregard applications from a school that is not accredited, especially in Virginia.
Due to the new accreditation standards, TC recently created a new position to improve attendance. Attendance Specialist Terry Wright has filled the role and has already began her work. “Truancy [the action of staying away from school without good reason; absenteeism] by definition has changed, but when I was going to court on it, it was seven unexcused absences in a year’s time… But now it is everybody, so I’m not even focusing on that. Everyone is in the same boat. ” said Wright.
Wright has been a social worker in Alexandria for 22 years. She has spent the majority of those years following T.C. Williams from campus to campus, focusing on truancy and attendance. She has worked at Jefferson Houston and James K. Polk Elementary dealing with issues such as childhood trauma, food, and housing.
In her new position as Attendance Specialist, Wright examined the number of students who go to T.C. and verified the number of students who went to T.C., but did not live in Alexandria. “I get return mail, I get calls from the community, there are different ways I find out that people do not live here. So I got them out of bed, or their parents did, they came to the door and then I took a selfie in front of their house or their number to document it on their resume” she said.
Additionally, many seniors have a problem with attendance. Most seniors are thinking about life after high school, however the attendance rules stay the same. The rules still apply and Wright wants you to know “It’s everybody, everyone’s in the same boat now, unexcused and excused absences are considered absenteeism and that is where my focus is.”
