A new attendance rule for seniors is in effect this year: They’re only allowed to miss five days of school, excused or otherwise, in order to be exempt from first semester final exams. With a new policy comes new opinions. Is missing five days promoting coming to school? Or is it a bad idea when a student is actually sick?

Science and Applied Arts Instructional Coach David Monti takes both sides.

“It’s encouraging kids to be in school, because you needs to be in school to learn and experience the things the teachers are teaching you,” Monti said about how kids need to be in school.

However, Monti thinks that sick students shouldn’t come to school.

“Obviously we want kids here as often as they can, but obviously when they’re really sick, we don’t want them coming to school and getting other people sick,” said Monti.

Monti thinks that this rule will help with senior exemptions from finals.

“The point of this rule is for the senior exemptions for semester exams. When we first started doing that 13 years ago, we didn’t have any rule. So then, kids would miss an awful lot of school and if they were able to still squeak by and get an A-, then they didn’t have to take the final,” said Monti.

Senior Adrian Castro exposed some flaws of the rule.

“I don’t think it’s right,” said Castro. “I was sick out with tonsillitis and missed a whole week,” he said.

Instead of complaining about the new rule, Castro has come up with a solution.

“I think instead of being five excused days, it should be five unexcused days,” said Castro about his proposed amendments.