State investigation reveals amendments, omissions in attendance records at Princeton High School

Princeton High School permitted a “significant” portion of students to graduate from the high school in spite of a high number of undocumented absences, a state investigation concluded last Monday. District staff also made adjustments to transcripts by hand to show that students had received credit for classes for which credit had been initially denied due to an excessive number of absences.

The investigation stemmed from allegations made last fall against the high school for distorting records.

In many cases, the high school was not able to provide documentation to warrant the waiving of attendance requirements, according to a summary of the investigation released last Monday by the state Department of Education’s Office for Fiscal Accountability and Compliance.

The OFAC investigation reviewed attendance records for over 1,350 students' records, and approximately 130 were examined closely in order to determine that students had met the attendance requirements for graduation.

The investigators reported that a sampling of 60 students, with 15 students from each of the four graduating classes, held 12th grade attendance records that conflicted with the official school policy.

The high school did not produce documentation verifying that attendance waivers had been granted to each student who graduated with excessive absences or that, in cases where waivers were granted, that each waiver was properly assigned, the report said.

Princeton Public Schools Board of Education’s attendance policy denies credit to students who have received a passing grade in a course but have missed class 18 times or more in a full-year course, nine times or more in a semester course and four times or more in a quarter course, according to the report. In order to appeal a credit loss, students may submit a written explanation or documentation for the unverified absences.

The Princeton Public Schools Board of Education released a statement regarding the OFAC Report on high school attendance records last Monday explaining that the report, which reviewed student records between 2008 and 2012, did not support the anonymous accusation made last fall, that the high school omitted or altered poor attendance statistics in the electronic data management system in order to permit unqualified students to graduate.

The statement expressed agreement with the OFAC’s recommendation for the district to adopt a standardized form for all attendance appeals. However, the board held that the investigation only focused on records for fewer than 12 students and denied amending any attendance records.

“It must be clearly and firmly stated that never once were any student records altered in any way,” the statement read. “PHS pupils are known well by their teachers, their counselors, their nurses and their administrators. Every credit, every grade and every attendance pattern were specifically documented and addressed by our staff.”

The school board ascribed discordances in records for the 2008-09 academic year to a changeover to new record-keeping software in the attendance office.

Princeton High School Principal Gary Snyder and Assistant Principal Harvey Highland both declined to comment beyond what was provided in the press release on the OFAC report.

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Rachel Klebanov ’16, a graduate of Princeton High School, said that she believes students should not be given “special treatment” where their excessive absences can be cleared if they are in high academic standing. Klebanov said that the number of absences necessary before credit is denied in a course is a large number and that no one should reach the point where academic standing is used as a justification to disregard a large number of absences. Klebanov noted her desire for a “uniform” policy to evaluate attendance appeals.

Klebanov is a staff writer for Intersections.

Lena Sun ’16, also a graduate of the high school, said that while she was a student, there were times in which she did not have documentation for an absence when she was either on a school trip or home sick, and after explaining her situation, staff in the attendance office would simply verify the absence.

“Princeton High School treats its students like adults. They give us the benefit of the doubt,” Sun said.

Sun said that providing documentation for every absence is a “long, arduous process.” She explained that for school trips where the absence note must be signed by every teacher in addition to a parent, it was “such a hassle” to get all necessary signatures. As a result, going into the attendance office the next day and simply explaining her situation verbally was much easier. “I felt my word was respected,” she said.