A whispered voice quietly asks her mom to sleep in, a junior at school asks his dad to call him out to study for a test and a freshman begs her parents for a day to improve her mental health. According to a non-scientific Oracle-conducted survey of South 365 students, 48.50 percent said that they have missed school for reasons such as wanting to sleep in or needing more time to study for a test.

According to Ronald Bean, dean of students, there are situations where kids are skipping school to sleep in and to study for tests.

“Parents have a right to excuse their kids from school,” Bean said. “It’s not our policy or practice or expectation that when parents call to excuse their kids from school that we interrogate them or ask them a whole lot of questions about why they are excusing their kid. We trust that it is for a valid reason.”

According to Bean, the only way the Dean’s Office would know if someone has missed school for these reasons is if the students’ parents call the school and clarify why their child is not coming to class.

“We will have situations where parents will call and say ‘my son has a test today in a math class and they’re gonna miss P.E to go to the TLC to get some help to get ready for the math test,’” Bean said.

According to freshman Maddie Dillon, missing school does not negatively affect her success in her classes.

“I don’t think it affects my schoolwork a lot because you can still make up the work and if your friends were there you can just ask them for help,” Dillon said.

On the other hand, freshman Lauren Cameranesi disagrees and believes missing school only makes it tougher to get caught up with all her schoolwork. According to Cameranesi, the policy is unfair towards students who do not miss school.

“Ditching school only makes it harder to make up work and could hurt your grade,” Cameranesi said. “Also, it’s unfair to the other students if you ditch so that you can take the test later because then you have more time to prepare for the test.”