What parents and students need to know about LHS’s new attendance policy

At the start of the 2025-26 school year, Lexington High School introduced a new attendance policy to address rising rates of absences and tardiness. 

The policy, developed by a committee led by Principal Andrew Baker, faculty members, and student and parent representatives, sets clearer expectations and consequences for absences and tardies. 

These measures were put in place to address past attendance challenges while emphasizing the value of in-person learning and classroom engagement.

“There has been a trend across the Commonwealth, post-pandemic, in schools having more and more students who reach a threshold in their attendance and are considered chronically absent,” said Andrew Baker, principal of LHS. “There was rising concern from faculty that students were out of class on a regular basis or consistently tardy to the classroom, making it very difficult to get the work of the class underway and to create a sense of community.” 

Under the new policy, if a student has four or more absences of any kind, or eight or more tardies in a quarter, they receive an “N” grade that replaces the earned academic grade for that quarter on their transcript. Earning an additional N for a year-long course or a single N in a semester-long course can lead to loss of credit for the course. 

Students who have earned an N may submit an appeal that is reviewed by their Dean and an attendance committee composed of LHS faculty and staff. If the student has exclusively excused absences such as a verified illness or injury, medical appointments, required court appearances, bereavement, college visits (for grades 11 and 12 with a limit of two school days in a year), major religious observations, or extraordinary family or personal circumstances, the N will likely be waived. 

Baker explained that the new attendance policy is designed to emphasize the value of physical presence at school, a concern partly influenced by the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, we spent such a significant amount of time not being with one another, that it became normal and easier. We’re really trying to return to this idea that time together is the important thing,” Baker said. “Are we having discussions? Are we solving problems on the board? Are we debating? Those are the types of activities that really add the value of having peers, and I think that students often learn as much from each other as they do from the teacher.”

On the other hand, Baker emphasized that the new attendance policy is designed with flexibility in mind, and recognizes that there are challenges with balancing the specific attendance requirements. 

“We had a lot of discussion around — what is the right amount of grace to give everyone? We don’t want anyone to come to school sick, but we’ve also got an imperfect medical system where it’s hard to get a doctor’s note. So, where do we draw the line there? I genuinely think that’s still an ongoing discussion right now,” Baker said. 

Many students and parents have expressed concerns over the significant change from the previous policy, mentioning that they feel that the new attendance policy creates added pressure to attend school when sick and makes it hard to balance extracurricular commitments. 

“The policy is a lot more restrictive now. Even if I’m not feeling great, as long as I’m not super sick, I feel like I still need to go to school to avoid having an absence that could count towards an N,” said Adhiti Hariram, a junior at LHS. 

For Hariram, a competitive tennis player, the policy has also affected her ability to play in tournaments. 

“On Fridays, sometimes I need to leave school early to go to my tournaments. But this year, with the new policy, it’s been inconvenient because I’ve been playing fewer tournaments so that I don’t have to miss school,” said Hariram. “For student-athletes, skipping school for sports is not really a possibility now, since there’s such a limited number of days you can miss.”

On the other hand, some students have noticed improvements in classroom engagement.

“Before the new attendance policy, you could basically have an unlimited amount of tardies and there wouldn’t be any consequences. Now, I personally notice that people are definitely getting to class more on time now,” Parnika Mysore, a junior at LHS, said. 

Additionally, Mysore notes that she appreciates the open communication between students and deans and the option to appeal an N when necessary.

“I don’t think the new policy creates additional pressure for me because I feel like I can reach out to my dean or the secretary and get that resolved. I’ve had to appeal an N before because I was sick for about a week, but it was a pretty straightforward process,” Mysore said.

With the end of the first quarter of school, administrators plan to evaluate the impact of the policy and collect feedback from the community, noting that there is room for discussion. 

“I would imagine at some point, a feedback tool will go out to teachers, a feedback tool will go out to students, a feedback tool may go out to caregivers, or maybe through the LHS site council. We will look at the data together, and we’ll continue to refine and we’ll continue to work to get it right,” Baker said.