Each year students have the opportunity to opt out of  four finals. But this year, the requirements have changed.

“We are trying to improve our in-person attendance at school,” said Principal Frank Bell

According to Bell, they have seen an increase in student absences since COVID-19. With these new requirements, they are hoping to improve in-person attendance, but many students have mixed opinions about these new requirements.

“It’s difficult at first. Change is hard, so rolling out new expectations to something that is very popular here is hard for them, but once it’s kind of like a five-minute passing period,” said Bell. “It’s kind of like a cell phone policy. Once you kind of it established as a norm, it will be easier.”

Other students aren’t so happy about the new requirements.

“I think that it increases attendance, but I think it ignores the majority of the student body and prioritizes athlete activities instead of out-of-school like passions and clubs and stuff,” said Williams.

Many students at GEHS have some kind of medical treatment they need.

“I think it is clear that the opt-out policy prioritizes athletes, and it punishes people for mandatory doctors’ appointments,” said Williams.

Since the school offers a variety of sports, they have decided that absences for school sports will be excused.

“I think it isn’t fair that students with medical problems who are hospitalized for weeks at a time need to expect to take their finals,” said Williams. “Whereas athletes miss school more than they do for sports or practice don’t need to expect to take their finals and are rewarded.”