by Alex Radtke

‘Hello Julia [Berardi]. This is Gabrielle Schweitzer calling for my daughter Molly Kaniger. She has the stomach flu and will not be coming to school today’¦’

As Ms. Julia Berardi hangs up the phone, she marks the twelfth student sick for the day. Berardi is glad these students decided to stay home today rather than coming to school sick.

‘If a student is feeling sick, then… she needs to stay home,’ Berardi said. ‘Also, if a student is sick enough to miss the first half of the day, then I think it is better for them to stay home to get rest.’

Berardi thinks that there is pressure for students to come to school sick because they are nervous about falling behind in classes. According to Berardi the STA attendance policy allows a student to miss five days of a class before her grade is dropped a letter.

‘I think [the attendance policy] is why many girls come to school sick,’ Berardi said. ‘They feel like they cannot afford to reach that fifth day because of their grades.’

Some students, such as sophomore Libby Randolph, have other reasons for coming to school sick.

‘I am afraid if I miss school, I would have even more work to do,’ Randolph said. ‘I’m terrified of getting behind in class. If I have something to turn in, I go to school anyways because it’¦ complicates everything with teachers, tests and homework.’

Principal for academic affairs, Barbara McCormick, believes that students need to follow the STA policy when deciding if they are too ill to come to school. The policy states that a student must be fever free (temperature below 100 degrees) for at least 24 hours before returning to school.

‘I know I am not pressuring students to come to school if they are sick,’ McCormick said. ‘Students must ask themselves what is pressuring them [to come to school]. Who? What? I think the student’s interpretation of the policy is the thing that dictates the amount of pressure a student is feeling. No one is hounding the students to come to school when they are sick.’

In a poll of 126 STA students, 94 percent admitted to coming to school sick, when according to the STA policy they should have stayed home. McCormick presumes that STA policy on illness is often broken, but she wishes students would follow the policy out of concern for themselves and the students that surround her.

‘I do believe students should follow the policy,’ McCormick said. ‘… also, if a student is contagious, she should know better than to come to school.’

According to the poll, students who come to school sick are most commonly pressured to do so by homework loads, tests, and a fear of falling behind in classes. Freshman Emmi Shearman is one of the 94 percent who comes to school when she is sick.

‘I hate missing so much school,’ Shearman said. ‘It seems like I can get behind so easily. Plus I hate missing tests, and I feel like I learn [material] better when I am actually in class not just getting notes from someone else.’

Despite the consequences of missing school, Berardi and McCormick agree that students should stay home when they are ill, reducing chances of an outbreak at STA.

‘I just wish students would stay home and rest,’ Berardi said. ‘Then they can come to school when they have fully recovered. I wish they would not come to school sick because it spreads throughout the school and everyone ends up getting sick.’