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• Anarchist on May 2, 2005 at 2:14 PM
  Actually, the administration cannot arbitrarily decide to accept only doctor's notes for a certain day, as I believe that the absence policy is county-derived.
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• Nb (View Email) on May 2, 2005 at 2:30 PM
  man, you cant do that its tradition kids should be encouraged and assured that it will be allowwed and alright until then there will be problems man
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• Nick Falgout on May 2, 2005 at 3:34 PM
  Good friend Anarchist, you forget the sheer and overwhelming power of an unfettered beuracracy. If that word is spelled wrong, it's because I'm lazy.
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• Jeff Lautenberger (View Email) on May 2, 2005 at 3:50 PM
  i believe the MCPS attendance policy is county wide, and as an institution, schools cannot derive ex post facto rules/policies whenever they deem necessary. not accepting notes from a parent is violation of a students rights. i could be wrong, but this seems a little fishy to me.
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• What? on May 2, 2005 at 4:36 PM
  What if a senior really does have a doctor appointment on that day?
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• Anarchist on May 2, 2005 at 4:37 PM
  Oh, and it's an AP testing day. Will the administration say: "Sorry, smart kids, you were taking a test that makes our school look good and boosts our Challenge Index rating. Too bad you don't get to graduate."?
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• carebear on May 2, 2005 at 4:55 PM
  Anarchist, people taking AP tests are excused for the whole day of school.
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• ._. on May 2, 2005 at 5:32 PM
  dude. this is so stupid. it's just one day of school.
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• 07 on May 2, 2005 at 6:09 PM
  We can't skip because our day would be July 7. Maybe it'd be better if nobody skipped.
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• ? on May 2, 2005 at 6:49 PM
  skip
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• 08 on May 2, 2005 at 7:46 PM
  that sucks yo
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• joesabeck on May 2, 2005 at 7:48 PM
  why come students would skip on this day? very confused. please make response.
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• 05 on May 2, 2005 at 8:10 PM
  Come on people. Be tough. Take the unexcused absince and skip.
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• Jeff Lautenberger on May 2, 2005 at 8:24 PM
  joesabeck-there is a longstanding tradition at blair for the senior class to skip on the day of the year that reflects their graduation year. being the class of '05, that day is May, 5, 2005 (05-05-05)
  
  07-we can always just arbitrarily pick a day in the year and declare it skip day ;) oops, prolly shouldn't have said that here, the administration goons are lurking. oops, shouldn't have said that either. o well...
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• 06Lisa on May 2, 2005 at 8:29 PM
  Hey 07, don't feel bad. We don't get a senior skip day either because we graduate like 4 days before 06/06.
  
  It really blows.
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• 08 on May 2, 2005 at 8:54 PM
  07, we don't get a skip day either. August 8th...
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• SENIOR! on May 2, 2005 at 9:01 PM
  05/05/05! Thank you Allison and Katherine for finding out the real deal for us!
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• Anarchist on May 2, 2005 at 9:30 PM
  Guys, it's not like a hard-and-fast rule that SSD has to be on YY/YY/YY. I mean, before '01, when did seniors skip? It's not like there was a 98/98/98. Just pick a day, and pass the word around.
  
  02/03/06 Might make sense. or 03/03/06. Or 01/06/06. It's up to you.
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• jaime (View Email) on May 3, 2005 at 8:31 AM
  Jose said that he was going to skip ,no matter what hurley says.
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• liltaz (View Email) on May 3, 2005 at 10:01 AM
  Well it's a day and senior all over, MD,Va, and Dc skip let us have our fun i'm sure all adults against it did sum stuff in skool that was not appoved by admin.
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• yoyo on May 3, 2005 at 10:38 AM
  "Really, I thought they'd endorse senior skip day" - Ethan K.
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• sPoOk on May 3, 2005 at 12:18 PM
  dont worry about the skip days for 06 and 07... someone will pick a day and pass the word around. they always have a senior skip day. i think ALL SENIORS SHOULD SKIP!!!! for the pride of finally getting out of this hell-hole. why hasnt noone do a senior prank... come on seniors we need to do something and make our class memorable!! WE ARE ALMOST DONE!!!!
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• SENIOR on May 3, 2005 at 1:06 PM
  it took two people to write this?
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• Senior '05 on May 3, 2005 at 1:53 PM
  Instead of having a senior skip day.....we could of had a school prank y'all.....And to all those you couldn't keep their mouths shut...Thanx a million!!! :(
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• Crunk n juice on May 3, 2005 at 1:57 PM
  Nick Falgout: it's bureaucracy!!!
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• hmm on May 3, 2005 at 5:03 PM
  this is why we don't have school spirit...
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• 1337 n003 on May 3, 2005 at 8:09 PM
  SENIOR BEACH WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or was it COUCH WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!
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• Bob on May 3, 2005 at 8:18 PM
  Someone should make a legal appeal. They have overstepped their bounds in making this rule, it is just plain illegal.
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• Anonymous on May 3, 2005 at 8:51 PM
  "Fus warned seniors that notes from parents will not be accepted for May 5. "[The administration] just wants to make sure people know [skipping] is not a school-condoned activity," she stated."
  
  Skipping has never been a school-condoned activity. The administration all of a sudden decides to impose all these new rules to try and prevent it, that's ridiculous. I'm fairly sure that it isn't legal for the school to make up a new attendance policy and loss of credit appeal policy for one specific day of the year.
  
  Anyways, to Anarchist FYI past seniors did things like skip every 98th day from the beginning of the school year or other stuff.
  
  Personally, I think this whole policy came down because Blair wanted to uphold its "95%" attendance rate (it's in the little handout that all you guys got talking about how we're a failing school) and seem like an administration that actively enforces rules.
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• ROC (View Email) on May 4, 2005 at 9:28 AM
  the school official are so rediculous, its a spirit thing n e way. To show ur spirit u skip on SENIOR SKIP DAY! Plenty of people skip everyday and bring a note to school to excuse it, that note could be complete BS but it still gets excused. But we skip one day to show our spirit and we cant even get excused if we bring a note. My mom knows im not commin to school on thursday and as long as im not in trouble with her that all that matters. Everyone who's not skippin, have fun in school, cuz i sure wont be here.
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• 08er on May 4, 2005 at 2:06 PM
  hahaha ppl who skip their ap exams (that they paid for).
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• Blah on May 4, 2005 at 6:14 PM
  What is the school going to do, physically hunt down every senior that is not at school that day? No, they aren't. Besides, the senior class could have [yes, past tense, it's too late now] organized to have Senior Skip Day on another day and the administration would not have caught on.
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• senior (View Email) on May 5, 2005 at 9:39 AM
  im not heeeerrrrrreeeeeee!!!!!!!!!
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• K Dot (View Email) on May 5, 2005 at 10:08 AM
  HOw is a sigle administrator going to change mo. County Policy 4 one Day?!
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• Rights and Responsibilities on May 5, 2005 at 3:46 PM
  http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/students/rights/attendance/
  
  The shool HAS overstepped it's bounds but it has already been doing so. The rules state that students must be warned of their potential to LC before their last absence, none of this "Hey! Guess what! Your teacher never turned in your absense notes and so now you have enough absences to LC and there's nothing you can do about it! Anfd we violated county policy and didn't warn you" that has happened to a few kids I know.
  
  They say that people are best led by example. Maybe the administration should learn to follow the rules before they expect the students to?
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• Chchip (View Email) on May 5, 2005 at 3:53 PM
  Seniors....be easy. We have like two weeks left of Blair and then it's bye-bye. Let's not sweat the small things...especially the Administration.
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• Noel Ibrahim (View Email) on May 5, 2005 at 10:06 PM
  It's hard as anything to get a doctors appointment the day you are actually sick. What if someone does not have health insurance and cant afford to go to the doctor? What a dictatorship. I told some of the teachers at Kennedy, they think this is ridiculous.
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• Bored on May 13, 2005 at 9:51 AM
  Well, I attend Suring High School and today is my Senior Skip Day, but here I am (along with 98% of the graduating class). Not only did my school threaten us with unexcused absences, but they needed to have a doctor's note the day before skip day so they could call the doctor at the time we are supposed to be in the doctor's office. Also, a doctor's note is only excused for half a day. Yes it sucks and I think that Schools need to be more open minded about what S.S.D is really about, it's not like the class is rebelling, it's the fact that we're trying to make our last memories that are supposed to last a lifetime, LET'S US LIVE! But unfortunatley, the school cracking down with strict rules as such, is no way crossing any legal lines. Schools need to enforce attendance due to State aid and such, so as long as the administration wants to, they can poor down any rule they want(with in reason of course). Sometimes we need to just live with what has been thrown out at us.
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• rondall (View Email) on August 25, 2005 at 12:37 PM
  Me, iam in the class of 2006 and my problem is what will our senior skip day will be, so i need so suggestion on what that date should be.
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• Diego on May 5, 2007 at 2:56 AM
  I just think people (faculty, students, parents, administrators) need to chill out. Understand that seniors are the result of kids that have grown to young adults in twelve years. The fact that they are still in school is a great deal and accomplishment for the schools as well as the students. Bad students and good students alike will skip on the days that is associated with the tradition, and why not. In a couple months they will be in the real life, so let students be students and let them have a day off from twelve years of school. I participated in senior skip day and was punished for it, but i am now in a position in the faculty to do something about the harsh punishments for the tradition and I am choosing to have all tests, exams, quizzes, and projects not be due the the designated day which is Senior Skip Day. I encourage the seniors to take the day off and let them have one day to themselves that they can remember before graduation for the rest of their lives...
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