The Confusion of LCAs

Staff Writer
Asher Montaño
  In an effort to keep students engaged and successful in their education, the Bonneville Joint School District #93 attendance policy has been a topic of discussion for the last 20 years. An LCA, or loss of credit, acts as a consequence for students who have six or more absences. LCAs were implemented back into the district policy this year; however, they were removed before the start of the third trimester.
  Throughout the district, speculations about whether or not LCAs contradicted state laws were thrown around. In reality, LCAs fell into more of a gray area when it came to district versus state policy. According to D93's Executive Director of Learning and Instruction, Jason Lords, LCAs were included in district policy until COVID-19 in 2020. While revisiting the attendance policies after COVID, the district office noticed some complications between LCAs and another district attendance policy. There is a mastery-based policy in which students who do not meet the attendance requirement can still earn credit if they have shown proficiency on that particular standard. If a student exceeds six absences while maintaining at least a 92% in the class, according to Lords, a parent "could go to the mastery-based learning and say I want my child to receive credit.” Although some students may remain successful while out of the classroom, others may find themselves struggling to maintain motivation and connection. With the mastery-based policy in place, administrators may find it difficult to determine whether or not the student receives credit for the class.
  LCAs were implemented at the beginning of this school year, and the repercussions are still affecting the school. Della Pilgrim, a current math teacher at BHS, shared her opinions on the matter. Although LCAs are still under debate regarding whether or not they were effective, Pilgrim believes they helped hold students accountable and "we all need to learn that there are consequences for choices." While, LCAs were implemented “students [were] more likely to be held accountable for bad decisions” regarding attendance. According to Pilgrim, some students saw immediate effects like learning enough to get better grades, while others needed to make up time after school with Mr. Sperry to understand consequences. With the conflicting state and district laws, many teachers, like Pilgrim, are torn between wanting to hold students accountable and needing to follow district policy. Ultimately, teachers must align their practices to the district policy while the school board reviews and discusses other options.