Senior Excused Absence Day
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- March
- 27
Apparently many parents of Croton-Harmon High School seniors sent in notes so their kids wouldn’t be considered AWOL on Senior Cut Day.
School administrators were a little upset, we hear.
I wonder whether the kids who cut class but didn’t ask for or get parental protection were also miffed. They would have had time to think about the ethical implications while sitting in detention.
I know Senior Cut Day was also a tradition at my kids’ high school. They must have told me about it. I don’t remember – perhaps it’s selective amnesia – what I said.
Maybe the event began as an act of rebellion by good kids – the ones who NEVER considered cutting class until they hit the spring of their senior year and felt they could relax.
And maybe the good kids have internalized their parents’ and teachers’ demands that they follow the rules. And maybe the parents of good kids think they’ve worked really hard and deserve a little safe naughtiness.
Still. Think about it. Do you do it and take the consequences? Or do you go along but protect yourself from a black mark in your student record? Is that cheating? Does it make your parents liars? Is it still exciting when your parents clean it up?
It may be more trouble than it’s worth.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 at 4:39 pm by Lanning Taliaferro.
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In my day, which shuts my kids ears instantly, our “senior cut day” was sanctioned by the school. It was the day we got our yearbooks, and my sense was that the teachers looked forward to getting rid of us! By the way it was not the first time I cut a class!
When I was a senior, I would have cut EXCEPT Senior Cut Day was 12/12, which happened to fall on a Saturday that year. It had to be made up another time, of course.
I don’t think we officially had a senior cut day, but a bunch of us definitely cut one day in May once our AP tests were over. My mom gave me permission, but told me (since we were going to Jones Beach) that under no circumstances was I to come back with a sunburn. Needless to say, we had a ton of fun at the beach… and I came back with sun poisoning. Oops!
Giving the OK to a child that is intent on participating in a “cut day” is very different from providing a phony excuse note. Parental permission doesn’t eliminate the possibility of the student facing some kind of disciplinary action for skipping school. (That risk is something I’ve always assumed was part of the thrill of cutting class.) A phony excuse, on the other hand, eliminates any chance of consequences. Which teaches the better lesson? As a parent, I can’t help but believe that acknowledging the act while pointing out the risk is a better idea than “protecting” the child from their consquences of their actions with a lie.
Well, 26 years ago during our Senior Cut Day, we pretty much did it spur of the moment. Some of us provided a phony note, and some just cut without it. It was pretty much expected it would happen at some point in the spring. Of course a couple of teachers gave a quiz to those that stayed behind, and those of us that left got a 0. Not that it mattered, as we already knew where we were going to college. It was a day to have fun and not care about the consequences.
Senior Cut Day – the “unofficial” excused day by both parents and school officials.Teachers looked the other way and it was always the day of the prom.
I can’t wait for my son’s Sr. Cut Day, I’m taking a “mental” health day from work!!!!
Are you kidding me? Now, students are so spoiled they can’t even figure out how to cut school without mommy covering baby’s tracks with a note? Get serious. Cut school and face whatever the consequences are. I did and survived. Parents should stop trying to be their kid’s best friends.
When I was a senior two years ago, Senior Cut Day was a big thing at school. Most kids did cut- I didn’t. It was one of the best days of school- with most kids (especially the troublemakers) gone, we relaxed in our classes and had time for fun classes with the teachers- not always, but often, still on topic!
Only in Croton-Harmon would students look to get excused absences from senior cut day.
I wonder if the students went directly to their Croton Residents Only” parks and beaches, or if they really rebelled and drove to Peekskill, Tarrytown, or (dare I say it) Ossining. What fun is there from an excused absence? Isn’t it just akin to a Superintendents Day?
Honestly, if I was in college admissions, would I want a student who got his or her parents to write a note to be excused for senior cut day or the student who has one detention on their record for experiencing a day that they will never forget?
Most teachers don’t mind one cut day; we get it, that the kids are ready to be gone. The problem is the “cut quarter.” Seniors at our high-pressure high school seem to burn out once the college acceptances are in—and tonight is the night they’ll hear from the ivies. Those in AP classes keep attending until after those exams. The rest have notes from mommy and daddy for days on end. I’ve had seniors that not only took off the Friday of the prom (Senior Manicure and Pedicure Day), but they also took an entire week after the prom to go to the Hamptons!
I graduated from HS almost 20 years ago. Our cut day was not sanctioned by administration, and much like Anne above, we too were headed for Jones Beach. My mom wrote me a note allowing me to leave after the first period. While I did not get sun poisoning, anyone seeing me the next day would not have had any questions about where I’d been.
I was a total geek, had perfect attendance and would have been too scared of the consequences had my parents found out. But because I was a total geek, had perfect attendance and was upfront with my parents – I was given a free pass. I wasn’t worried about what the school would do to me if I was caught, I was petrified by what my parents would do to me.
Today is Senior Cut Day and I gladly gave my daughter permission to take the day off….even geniuses deserve a day off, right??? Hey people…relax!! It’s not that serious….it’s one darn day in the life of a teenager. Chill.