The start of every school year tends to lead to anxiety for students and teachers alike. It comes with learning new routines, people and policies. This year is no different for many. Not only has Katy ISD  put in a new bathroom policy, but there is also a brand new attendance policy for the 2023-2024 school year, working to incentivize attendance.

This policy not only affects students, but also has an impact on coaches who have to plan around in order to keep their students within the absence limit. They also have the job of coordinating with teachers, making sure that students have the time outside of school to be adequately caught up on as many assignments as possible.

“I would say if a student had a 90 in a class and eight absences they should still be able to exempt, that would be my opinion,” said tennis coach and Pre Calculus teacher Karl Burford, “I would also imagine that students maybe would be able to do some kind of a waiver, if the new policy is five.”

That being said, it is still important to take into account what the students think about this new policy. While it may not be up to them, they are still directly impacted by any policy brought up by administration or the district. At this point, students will have to regulate their time off even more, being careful about how often they are off due to vacation and holiday. Moreover, it’s important for students to stay as healthy as possible, given that even excused absences are still counted against them.

Junior and soccer player Danny Ramirez claims that the new policy is, “a little excessive,” and “makes it difficult to regulate classwork and extracurriculars,” given his already long practice hours, especially in the spring semester. 

Although many see it to be a problem, others think differently, especially the underclassman. This is because of the incentive part of the policy, giving students an extra exemption if they get three or less absences in a semester. Not just that, but a couple of underclassmen are even working to not go above three.

“Honestly, I don’t really see the problem with the new attendance rule,” sophomore Noah Gunn said, “Having only two exemptions, without the incentive, I’m doing my best to keep my absences to a minimum.”