This semester, seniors have the opportunity to be exempted from their final exams if they are absent for 5 days or less. However, this has already caused some conflicts with some seniors who have been sick this year, but still showed up to school so they wouldn’t use up their senior days so early in the semester.

Seniors should be allowed to miss school without it counting against senior days if they have a doctor’s note saying that they’re sick and should not attend school. Seniors coming to school sick prevents them from learning and puts other students at risk of getting sick.

Since senior days count per class, sick students have had to strategically miss certain classes that have a final exam to avoid having to take an exam for those classes. This hassle could be prevented if students could use a doctor’s note to excuse senior days.

Regardless, senior days are still useful in making sure that seniors continue coming to school. Since most seniors have already applied to colleges or even been accepted, it’s easy for them to slack off during second semester and skip class. Senior days give them an incentive to come to school and students appreciate the opportunity to be exempted from their final exams.

Although senior days provide an effective way to prevent seniors from skipping school for no reason, they are currently causing more harm for sick students than help. Even though some students could fake a sick day, it’s worth implementing the excuse for students who are actually sick to help them get better sooner and prevent others from getting sick.