Patriot Plot

As you visit West Carteret, you will notice signs in every classroom, office, and hallway detailing two numbers every patriot should know.  These signs remind students that 8 absences are the maximum number they can miss in any given semester.  The other number is also critical to students receiving credit for courses…48 hours to bring in an excuse for any absence.  We had approximately 308 different incidents that would have caused students to have lost credit this past semester.  After all notes were turned in we were down to about 96 incidents of loss of credit.  This semester notes will not be able to be excused if turned in after 48 hours from the absence.  Please make sure to stay on top of turning in your student’s notes within the 2 days following the absence.  We know this will not be a very popular decision on our part, but we changed this to benefit students. 

You might say, how is only accepting notes for 2 days helping students?  Well previously students were required to report to the student center prior to school starting to receive an admit slip.  If the student did not get an admit slip he/she would be sent back to the student center to remain for the entire period.  This caused the student to have another absence for the sake of getting a note for the prior absence.  This did not make sense to us as an administrative team, so the policy was changed.  We did not want students to be double penalized for not bringing in a note.  We therefore opted to follow thru with the 48 hour policy given by the Carteret County Board of Education Attendance Policy.  We gave parents some leeway this first semester since we made the change during the semester.  We have created the reminder signs and added the requirement to our phone calls and letters sent home about attendance.  With us keeping the 48 hour requirement infront of the students daily…we will strictly enforce the policy this second semester of the 2006-2007 school year.