<p>But be realistic…after April 1 none of it does matter anymore.</p>
<p>Yesterday was senior skip day at my kids’ school. This particular class wasn’t very creative like my older son’s and I think the kids just slept all day. Prom was this past weekend and they are “done” the last week in May. My youngest has a first hour class with mostly seniors and he said the teacher walked in looked around and asked “where is everybody” and when “told” just chuckled and my youngest said they watched a video. At this point the kids have seniorities, the administration is just holding their breath that the kids don’t get into trouble or screw up too bad and finish up their senior volunteer hours before commencement plus just want to get them out of the school so the younger grades can finish up and take exams. Even the impending spring AP tests don’t seem to phase the seniors anymore. I think my son has the attitude of oh well if I do crappy on them I just won’t send the scores. It’s a pretty “mellow” time for the kids.</p>
<p>Son had senioritis real bad in Q3. (He ended up with 2 C’s in classes that were a D and an F on the interim.) But, for the last month he’s been dating one of the most motivated and studious girls in the class. I think it’s having a positive affect. If it’s not, he’s sure faking it pretty well. We shall see. </p>
<p>My fellow Marylanders might relate to this: Beach Week is contingent upon an acceptable Q4 interim. Dad and I define acceptable.</p>
<p>Our school goes on to mid June. Augh! Yesterday the administration imposed a lunch time “hoosegow” for anyone who arrived late to school. Sure enough, my guy was held up in traffic and subsequently had “in lunch suspension” where he was seated with other “naughty people” away from the rest of the student body. </p>
<p>This sort of petty hand spanking is exactly the sort of thing that makes seniors nuts. The kid is not habitually tardy. He’s a polite, happy kid who likes his first period teacher and tries to comply with what is requested. Normally that teacher would make a sarcastic comment to late comers as in “So glad you could join us. Sleep well?” (more than enough to keep that class in line. They all do like him) but this week all teachers are required to send offenders to lunch jail. </p>
<p>I know I am getting senioritis!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I wonder, though, about the practicality of this for classes that have mixed grades. At our school, this is particularly prevalent in the AP science classes, which are typically populated with juniors and seniors (with an occasional sophomore.)</p>
<p>I’m amazed at how petty and ridiculous some teachers and administration are being toward seniors this time of year. If they would just acknowledge what the reality is and back off a little, everybody would be much happier.</p>
<p>nightchef: It’s a suburban public high school which does not have huge social or discipline problems that we know of. The administration had been contemplating requiring the students to wear their ID’s on lanyards ever since 911 and then that spat of school shootings. Had they done it back then, I think kids would have been more accommodating. But no, they finally got around to implementing it this year.</p>
<p>“I felt like saying, “take the zero and get some sleep, will ya?””</p>
<p>Some teachers in our school won’t give the seniors zeroes. Instead, they give an incomplete. A senior can graduate with a lower grade but not with an incomplete. This keeps the seniors working for a few more weeks.</p>
<p>You hit the nail on the head, olymom. The other rule the seniors are all up in arms about is that anyone who misses school the Monday after prom weekend can’t walk at graduation. I don’t think my D actually had any intention of skipping, but she is still quite indignant. She feels that she has toed the line, worked really hard, been only the 2nd kid in school history to get into H and the first to get into S, and has never EVER skipped school, and now do you mean to tell her that in senior year the one day she might actually have contemplated skipping, she can’t???</p>
<p>My daughter’s school actually did do a couple of things that helped with the end of the year lazies. The school finishes AP instruction at the beginning of April; then they prep for tests for the rest of April. After AP tests are finished, the seniors have to complete a two-week internship in the community, complete a journal, and give a presentation–all requirements for graduation. That did help with the very end. DD worked here in town, so not having that one-hour each way commute also helped.</p>
<p>D’s school relaxes the dress code rules for Seniors for the last quarter. They also have “febhairy” where boys can have facial hair. Kids en joy being able to wear sweats and makes them feel unique.</p>
<p>That’s one of the things my son keeps griping about - the school dress code. He is TOTALLY sick of being told what he has to wear! And, I have heard alot from him lately - “I guess that’s why it’s time to leave high school” in reference to (to him) silly rules etc. at school.</p>
<p>Well, once they get into the workplace, they may find they have a new group of silly rules to follow. Good practice for corporate life.</p>
<p>^ That’s true, but I doubt your company will declare it “Beach Day” for Spirit Week" but then proceed to tell you: “No bathing suits, no hats, no sleeveless shirts, and no short shorts (fingertip rule)”.</p>
<p>And my Ds senioritis is manifesting itself in being totally “done” with the antics of her fellow classmates that were mildly amusing for most of the year but are now just irritating. Her work is consistent with the rest of the year (and most of her HS career) and her teachers seem to be fine (she’s got a great team of teachers with the exception of one) and they’re focusing on AP prep at this point.</p>
<p>abasket: since your prom is on a Friday, I would expect a lot of the girls to be absent that day. There is a lot of “maintenance” that has to go on for most girls the day of prom :)</p>
<p>@TheGFG–what’s the fingertip rule?</p>
<p>Your shorts have to be at or below your fingertips. It’s a bummer for girls with long arms.</p>
<p>Also for orangutans.</p>
<p>Wow…as a short-armed, short-legged, long-waisted type, I could comply with that rule and be seriously indecent. :D</p>
<p>The silliness of dress codes never fails to blow my mind.</p>
<p>Why do teachers require major projects due the end of senior year? In my opinion this is pure punishment for the parents.</p>
<p>At my S’s school the seniors don’t have to wear their uniforms the whole month of May.</p>