That’s what you get when you’re sick: a glaring “F” in the gradebook.
Two months into school, you’ve been working hard, getting all your daily assignments in on time with A’s in all your classes. On top of that, you participate in a sport that practices every day after school.
One Thursday, you aren’t feeling well and can’t make it to school but there is a test in one of your classes. Upon returning to school Friday, you check to see what your grade is and you notice you have an “F,” all because you missed a test you had less than 24 hours ago. Since the test carries so much weight in the grade book, it looks like you are failing the class when, in reality, you have been getting an “A.”
Your stress starts to build as you stare at the “F” in PowerSchool, and intensifies as you see the email from the athletic department that you’re now ineligible to play the following week. To top it all off, it says that you also have to reach out for additional academic support sessions before you can become eligible again. You have to scramble to explain to your coach that you aren’t failing in school and try to get your teacher to change the “F” before the end of the day on Friday.
This is not uncommon for some students who are out sick. The practice of immediately entering an “F” into PowerSchool when someone is absent is unfair to the student. And, of course, it also causes unnecessary stress and anxiety.
“I’ve been missing a lot of school recently because I have had a lot of doctor’s appointments, so I have missed a lot of assignments,” said junior Laurie Arseneault. “Some of my teachers have put a zero in Powerschool for something I wasn’t there for and it dropped my grade a lot. It makes me anxious because my grade went down significantly for something I wasn’t even there for.”
Right now, this policy is up to whether or not the individual teacher enters the grade as “missing,” which doesn’t affect the grade, or an “F.” This policy needs to be changed. It should be mandatory that all teachers give students a grace period after returning back to school before entering an “F” into PowerSchool. If faculty is truly concerned about our mental health, they will make this change. Let’s get rid of unnecessary “F’s.”
Jason Kowalski • Oct 21, 2024 at 3:05 pm
“F” the policy of using zero-placeholders for medically absent exams.
Pure Copium • Dec 6, 2024 at 11:09 am
Let’s be real here Jason: the policy of using zero-placeholders for medically absent exams is fundamentally unfair and doesn’t consider the real human experiences students face. “F” for policy? Hell yes, “F” is too kind.
We’re talking about a situation where someone is going through an illness or some serious medical situation. Instead of providing support, compassion, or even a chance to recover, the system slaps them with a big, fat zero on their record. Not only is this punitive, it’s downright insensitive. People don’t choose to be sick. They don’t schedule a flu, an injury, or a medical emergency—it happens, and it’s beyond their control.
And don’t even get me started on how that zero impacts GPA, scholarship eligibility, and even the long-term mental health of students. A single exam missed due to something completely out of their hands should not result in a permanent, GPA-damaging penalty. That’s not a policy designed to encourage growth or learning; it’s a system that punishes people for having a human experience. It’s a policy that doesn’t care about context, about life, about the things that matter.
There are so many ways to approach medical absences with empathy—like offering make-up exams, extended deadlines, or simply giving students the option to retake the material when they’re back in good health. The idea that a sick day should be treated like you just “decided” to skip class? That’s insulting, and it’s time we stop pretending like that’s a fair system.
So yeah, screw that policy. It’s backward, it’s harmful, and it’s an example of an education system that prioritizes rules over humanity.