Earlier this week, an unusually large number of seniors were absent from school. The cause – an unsanctioned senior tradition fondly called “Senior Ditch Day.”
Senior Ditch Day, which occurred this past Tuesday, is an annual event organized by the senior class during which they do not come to school for a day.
While not all seniors chose to participate, Mimi Bennett, the Attendance Clerk, said that she noticed an above-average number of absences, both excused and unexcused, this past Tuesday. She could not give exact numbers for the number of seniors absent Tuesday.
David Nash, who teaches Physics, said that for his classes, which consist of upperclassmen, the senior absence rate was about 50 percent.
The administration, who was alerted of the event ahead of time, sent an email to the parents of the Class of 2013 regarding the event. They said that absences this day would only be excusable by a note from a parent or doctor.
Senior Sophie Goldberg, who was absent Thursday, said that her mom wrote her a note to excuse her from school.
“My mom went into the office, and she gave [Mimi] the letter, and Mimi was like ‘Is this for Senior Ditch Day?’ And my mom was like ‘Yes, does it have everything it needs to have on it?’,” Goldberg said.
Goldberg said that for the most part, none of her teachers made negative comments about Senior Ditch Day, but were not accommodating either.
Nash said he understands the tradition behind Senior Ditch Day, but won’t go out of his way to accommodate students that choose to participate either.
“I’m not going to bore the kids that were here with a double lecture, and I’m not going to support that you missed a class and hold your hand and teach you this lesson again,” Nash said.
Nash also said he knows of teachers who try and incentivize students to show up to school on Senior Ditch Day.
“Some teachers have the reputation for finding out when the Senior Cut Day is, and there’s a 100 point quiz and you can’t make it up, and they’re basically driving the seniors back to the classroom, using some type of intimidation I guess you could call it,” Nash said.
