What is with these E-learning days, or rather, the ramifications because of them? The school corporation has been planning on using these E-learning days since we started using them during Snowpocalypse 2014, and we even had a practice E-learning day in November in preparation for this winter. It seemed that everything was going according to plan, and the first set of E-learning days that DCSC had were called preemptively so students had enough forewarning to bring home their textbooks to be prepared for the online school day. Everything seemed to be going well for the first actual run through.

Then, upon our miraculous return to school, teachers were to ask students who had not completed the assignments to fill out explanations of why they did not complete the assignment. Rumors were floating around that if students did not complete the assignment, they were going to get unexcused absences for that day, something that had only been talked about after our return to school. This began the confusion in the student body. Why were we not told of this consequence before the E-learning day when it actually mattered?

Then the mysterious pink slips of paper appeared at the end of the day Wednesday and the beginning of the day Thursday. Where did these slips come from? What did they say? Or rather, what did they mean? The pink slips confirmed the rumors that were already floating around: students who did not complete E-learning work were being given an unexcused absence for that day. But it added a new twist. The top of the pink slip stated how many hours the student had to make up, which varied from student to student with seemingly little correlation to the amount of work they had failed to complete, and then stated that unless the student attended detention on one, or both, the two specified days,  Thursday or Friday, the student would get the unexcused absences on their record.

There are many problems with this slip. The first is that no one knows what is going on. The students receiving this slip are confused about many things, including what they will be doing at this detention, how the number of hours at the top were calculated, and why was the slip only being given to students the day before the detention was supposed to be served? What the students want  to know most is: Where is the communication? The teachers had not been extensively informed about this detention, given only the bare minimum, and the parents were not emailed about this pink slip that was sent out. No one has the answers to our questions, except for the front office, according to the slip. Thank goodness they were passed out at the end of the day Wednesday and the beginning of the day Thursday so the students had plenty of time to ask their questions! This is sarcasm. There was no time for the questions to be asked.

This has the potential to be a good policy for students who choose to not participate in the E-learning days, and most of the complaints about these pink slips are about the confusion and suddenness of all of this. One senior stated, “I don’t know what’s going on. They didn’t tell me until the day of, and I could have had to work.”  Many upperclassmen have after school jobs and can not attend these detentions, especially with only a 24 hour notice. In many cases students have received the slips the day of the detention, and they are scrambling to find rides home. This is an entirely insufficient amount of warning time for these detentions for the students that work, or for students who already have family plans. In fact, the fact that the slips came out long after the E-learning days itself is a problem.

Many students who received these sudden and hurried warning slips are furious because if they had known about these detentions and unexcused absences before the E-learning days, they would have been much more likely to have done the assignments. There is a huge difference between getting a zero on a fifteen point assignment, which is the biggest consequence that many of the students expected to get because that is what they were told previously, and having to serve a detention or get unexcused absences that mar their record. Then, on top of it all, the only way the student is able to fix the blunder that they did not even know they were making is by making up the seemingly random hours in the form of detention the day after they are even notified that there is a problem in the first place.

Thus, the student body is crying out in confusion and anger, and no one seems to have the answers, or be willing to give them out, anyway. Are these detentions following E-learning days the administration trying to make up for the fact that the student body was not warned before the unexcused absence policy was enacted? (Which is unfair because the students did not know beforehand, and they barely have any warning for the “make-up” sessions, too.) Is it going to be a one time thing, or will there be a series of detentions after every E-learning streak? Where did the hours come from? There is no explanation as to how they came to be (one student missed eight assignments and has to make up three hours, while another student missed two assignments and has to make up two hours). Are the assignments going to be required to be made up, or can the students expect to not have to do them at all and still get school day credit? What if the assignments, and therefore the time, are already made up? One student asked, “What happens if I don’t go? I don’t know if it’s an absence, or will I go to ISS? They should clarify whether or not we have to make up the assignments during these detentions, because no one seems to have the same answer.”

Most importantly, will the parents ever be notified of this, and will the teachers ever be properly informed of what information  they are supposed to be providing their students? One teacher asked, “Are the students supposed to be making up the assignments? This email says that the students will come and ask for what assignments they are missing, but why would they need to know if this detention is only for making up the missing time?” It certainly seems that there is a giant gap in communication from the administration to the students and parents and even most of the teachers. This is a giant problem.

E-learning days are a wonderful thing, and teachers and students alike are grateful for them, but our administration must clarify the ramifications of not doing the work without a proper excuse, because as of right now everyone is confused. We as students deserve answers about what the expectations will be and what our consequences will be if those expectations are not met, and we deserve these answers in a much more timely fashion than the pink slips that were distributed. It is a possibility that there will be more E-learning days next week, and it is imperative that the administration make it clear to the students what their punishment will be if they do not do their assignments. It is understandable that there needs to be some ramifications to prove to the state that we are doing everything possible to make sure students are completing the work. Few are arguing that the detentions and unexcused absences are a bad thing, but everyone is arguing that it would have been nice to know beforehand.