It’s time to
talk seriously
about student
PINION
Student attendance is serious matter
dance but to an excessively
large number of tardies and ear-
ly sign-outs.
- s
Herald/Times
tional opportunity. Obviously,
several of these will seldom
come in play. Illness or injury is
Herald/Times
they are seniors. That always
amazes me. Wake up out there -
there is no such thing as a
October 21, 1999 Section A, Page 4
there is only one vital factor,
and that is an expectation from
parents that children will be in
October 21, 1999
Editor: Gary Stewart 739-7496
a much better option than us
having to punish those who
don’t for something that should
attendance in Three of our schools - East, the most common legitimate school approved Senior Skip school on a regular basis. We not be happening. If you choose
our school sys- | North and West - have atten- reason for absence. We do not Day. will never conquer this problem not to support us, please don’t
tem. Clearly, ; dance percentages which are want students to come to school I am especially frustrated by without full support from par- expect us to stand idly by and
(nTegular atten-
2 ;dance at school
is related to
better achieve-
Ae
ment. We seem Gy nerintendent
to have a rela-
tively large
number of fam-
ilies who don’t seem as con-
y cerned about regular atten-
“dance as I would hope they
would be. In my next two
columns I want to look at the
"attendance challenge we have
and solicit your support in im-
#proving our record.
State law references the re-
<sponsibility of parents who
“have children in school to be
sure they attend “continuously”
during the time of their enroll-
ment. What this really means is
that children should go to
school regularly, on time, and
KM Schools
gnot only relate to daily atten-
Bob McRae
for the entire day. Our problems
quite good, each ranking in the
upper 22% of all schools in
North Carolina. From there the
marks fall off rather quickly.
Grover, Kings Mountain Middle
School, Kings Mountain High
School, and Davidson School all
rank in the lower half of the
state’s schools in regards to at-
tendance. However, even at our
other four schools we experi-
ence problems with tardies and
early sign-outs, Incidentally, for
the last school year, our sys-
tem’s attendance ranked a pal-
try 101st out of 117 school sys-
tems in the state.
First, let’s consider general
school attendance. There are
seven lawful reasons for ab-
sence from school: illness or in-
jury, quarantine, death in the
immediate family, medical or
dental appointments, court or
administrative proceedings, re-
ligious observance, and educa-
if to do so would put them or
others in attendance at risk.
However, some absences for ill-
ness reasons are simply con-
trived. It’s easy to claim being
sick. One should not miss
school for this reason unless
there is a legitimate sickness.
Many of our students take
school attendance too casually.
Apparently, so do their parents.
We experience situations where
parents cover for the absences
of their children. At times, par-
ents have students run errands
for them instead of sending
them to school. Some parents
do not even know when their
children are absent from school.
Also very frustrating is the
KMHS tradition of “Senior Skip
Day.” Apparently, some parents
actually believe we would tell
students they could have a day
off from school occasionally
during the year just because
parents who do cover for their
children’s absences. When the
parent knows his or her child
has been caught truant and lies
about the absence just to keep
the child from being held ac-
countable, it not only frustrates
our efforts at good attendance,
but it also teaches the child a
lasting lesson about what
character traits are important to
the parent. Doesn't responsibili-
ty imply accountability?
Because attendance concerns
are so frustrating, we do have
limits beyond which students
my not go and still receive cred-
it for their grade or courses. In
elementary school the limit is 20
days; in middle school it is 18,
and at the high school it is 8 per
course. If attendance does not
improve, the limits may well be
tightened up.
What does it take to have
good attendance? Actually,
ents. I hope parents who have
been guilty of condoning ab-
sences will consider reversing
that stance. Expect your chil-
dren to go to school regularly
and to only miss for legitimate
reasons. Don’t take advantage
of the system. Don’t use your
children to do things during
school time which you should
be doing yourself or which can
be done outside school time.
Plan recreational activities
around school schedules rather
than allowing them to take pri-
ority over school. The list goes
on, and I think you get the idea.
‘I'am stressing to our princi-
pals to really focus on good at-
tendance this year and to track
down those students who abuse
the system and to hold them ac-
countable for the abuse. I hope
you will help us by helping en-
sure that students under your
control attend regularly. That's
SIDEWALK
SURVEY
ssesscsccscssesssssnsscnsnnessns
By ALAN HODGE
Herald/Times
Why does
Kings
~ Mountain
\ needa new
i
fi
We don’t have
We need a new
a8 2iisW
The current senior
The current senior
not react by holding your chil-
dren accountable. Potential em-
ployers in our community tell
us that we are doing a disser-
vice to them if we allow poor
attendance habits as they will
almost always result in poor
workplace attendance habits
later on.
I'll continue this conversation
in my next column by dis-
cussing the tardy and early
sign-out problem which is also
very discouraging. I regret hav-
ing to devote so much column
space to this issue, but it really
has gotten very troublesome for
our schools. Our community
expects us to treat our students
fairly - that’s appropriate - but I
also think it is appropriate for
us to expect the same thing in
~ return. Help us out!
Clinton’s
legacy?
Divided
country
To the editor:
Ever since the impeachment
trial of President Clinton, there
has been lots of talk in the me-
dia about what his legacy, will
be. I believe that Mr. Clinton's
legacy will be a bitterly divided
country. :
Ever since his election in
Senior center is crowded. enough room in the senior center so that ~~ center has become center is interesting 1992, Mr. Clinton and the
Center? We need more old center. services can be obsolete. historically, but too Democrats have taken advan-
space for activities. expanded. small. tage of every opportunity to
“get even” with conservatives.
; Boots Osborne Dot Spake Everette Waters Carol Lewis Everette Osborne ae
Kings Mountain Grover Shelby Kings Mountain Shelby against one another. Wherever
T en
there are two diametrically op-
posite groups in this country,
pro-gun/anti-gun, pro-abor-
tion/anti-abortion,
black/white, homosexual/het-
erosexual, rich/poor,
old/young, you name it, Mr.
=a
ne ere A en. 2 i St
AM radio
Mark Baron's : Clinton and the Democrats
NY o have always sided with one
SCARECROW 2D 1S t he p ause group and blamed that group's
“Na problems on the other group.
PE} This country has not been
this divided since the Vietnam
War, or may even the Civil War.
If Mr. Clinton and the
Democrats are taking sides with
certain groups in this country
Ld A
ty, 7
7 3
PE SIAN F Y
Selah 2 1 EVER AS
Ea ;
4
that refreshes
Recently I have discovered the radio. Not that it Al RE
was lost, or that I am taking credit for its inven- an
NS
=x o
A
=
#
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(tain tion, but I became reacquainted with late night
CLEVELAND MALL
radio after growing weary of the junk on TV.
A few weeks ago I bought a Walkman AM/FM
Hodge
cassette player with headphones. Instead of listen- Staff Writer
ing to the senseless drone of the boob tube, I now
retire to the cocoon of bed and begin roaming the
dial and often the globe with it.
Many evenings I skip the FM band and start slowly dialing the
AM airwaves. I don’t know exactly why, but on AM you can get ra-
dio stations from places really far away. On cloudy evenings I have
heard football games from several states away, hillbilly music from
Tennessee, and country fried preaching from places far out in the
heartland.
Maybe the best part about the AM radio band is the fact that if
atmospheric conditions are just right, you can hear foreign radio
stations going full blast. A lot of the stations you pick up must be
coming from Mexico. Folks, the Spanish language they teach kids
in school is a pale shadow of what the announcers and guests on
these south of the border stations speak. Not only that, but I am
here to inform you that the Baja marimba band has not been re-
placed by the electric guitar in many Mexican towns.
Sometimes surfing the AM band, you can pick up stations broad-
casting in the Unknown Tongue. Listening to these
broadcasts,which by the way are usually as full of static as pair of
nylon socks fresh from a clothes dryer, it’s really hard to tell exactly
what language they're speaking. Just guessing, I think I've heard
Chinese and Russian on a couple of occasions.
Though surfing the AM band is somewhat new to me, it used to
be a way of life for families. Stop for a moment to reflect on how
many nights across the decades people from nations around the
globe have huddled near their AM radios and heard of wars start-
ed, won, or lost. Think how many. pairs of socks were knitted to the
tunes warbling out of an old AM radio. Contemplate how many
pipes full of tobacco have been puffed in the comfort of a little bun-
galow while the AM radio played ball games of all types.
There is something soothing about the AM band of the radio,
even if the broadcast is someone preaching hellfire and brimstone
from the backwoods. There's also something miraculous in being
able to stretch out in the dark and listen to the voices and songs of
people in other lands. Here's to the AM band on your dial, the
pause that refreshes.
Vv All letters to the editor must be signed in ink and include
the full name, address and telephone number of the author. Mail
letters to The Editor, P.O. Box 769, Kings Mountain, NC 28086.
and trying to champion them,
just what do they have in mind
for those they do not side with?
I cringe at the thought. The di-
visions in this country are run-
ning so deep, that I have even
read and heard several respect-
ed commentators actually talk
about the rights of states to se-
cede from the union.
Since winning the White
House in 1992, Mr. Clinton and
the Democrats have demonized
and maligned their opponents
and critics in truly horrid fash-
ions. They have called conser-
vatives Nazis who want to kill
elderly people and starve chil-
dren, oppress minorities, and
return women to second-class
citizenship, They have misused
their power to harass and in-
timidate law-abiding gun own-
- ers, and used the IRS to target
and audit their opponents, for
example. They have also slan-
dered and maligned private cit-
izens like Linda Tripp, whose
only crime was exposing
wrong-doing in the highest of-
fice in the land. It appalls me
that fairly intelligent people in
this country have fallen for the
lies and supported the deeds of
this President.
Of course, judging by the be-
havior of Mr. Clinton, the
Democrats in Congress, and
their supporters among the ~
electorate, I don’t think it’s a co-
incidence that the symbol for
the Democratic Party is a jack-
ass.
John Scott Hardin