Coginchaug has recently installed a new rule, dealing with the time period for students missing work due to absences, that doesn’t seem to be going over well. Despite what was written in the handbook, there wasn’t an official rule: it had always been that you take it up with the specific teacher for that class and figure it out, but now there is a set standard for every class.

Now, students will be given 48 hours or two school days to have the missing work, following an absence, completed, and students are starting to feel like this isn’t enough time. Senior Chris Solomon says, “I don’t believe this gives students enough time to complete the work while trying to balance their already busy schedules dealing with sports, other homework, assessments, and jobs.”

At Coginchaug, students are involved in school sports (57 percent), extracurricular activities, and jobs so they already have a hard time balancing their schedules. If a student misses an assignment that was taught in class, they are going to have to find the time to stay after and also make it up, but with the new rule, it’s going to be hard to find the time to do all of this within two days.

For example, if I miss a Monday, I miss Spanish, Journalism, Precalculus, and Anatomy. These are four core classes, and each class is going to require me to stay after, understand the information, and complete the assignment within two days on top off all my other ongoing assignments. To me, this isn’t enough time to complete everything because while I’m trying to make up the missed work, my teachers are continuing to give me assignments; for example, on Tuesday, I have History through Film and Spanish again where I am continuously working on assignments, which in the end only adds more things I have to get done within those two days.  

Although teachers and administration think that this rule is going to be effective,  it gives students an incentive to get it done and prevents them from procrastinating. Most students typically will get the work done as soon as possible because they don’t want to see their grade drop, but every teacher has a different opinion. “As a teacher, I disagree,” said English teacher Ms. Rebecca Suchy. “I have many students who don’t ask about what they missed and don’t notice until I bring it up to them; however, there are other students who miss multiple days and come in with everything they missed the day they return.”

This rule isn’t going to affect them; it’s going to affect the small percent of students that put it off till the last minute and the students who are very involved in extracurricular activities. The students who wait until the last minute to get something done are no longer going to be able to do this. Even though the amount of time they gave isn’t much, it is better than giving them an endless amount. For the students who are super involved, it’s another story; this percentage of students are going to want to make up their work as soon as possible, but with field trips, extracurricular activities, and competitions, it is even more difficult. These students already feel the pressure of everyday school on top of their other involvements, and now putting a shorter time on makeup work is only going to add to that.

Overall, I don’t believe that this new rule is giving hardworking students enough time to complete their missed work. Most students tend to already have a hard enough time getting everything done because of their busy schedules, and now this is only going to shorten the amount of time they have, causing more stress.