We all, I'm sure, experience these kinds of issues in our programs.  At my current school this is the solution we've come up with and it works pretty well...take what works and leave the rest.

 

At the beginning of the year we mail a newsletter to ALL families of choral students which include grading/attendance policies, concert attire guidelines, and the date of all public performances for the coming year.  Both student and parent sign and return a form that states they understand all of the policies. (they also sign off on a district wide Code of Conduct Policy that all extra and co-curricular students must agree to if they are to perform/compete). We coordinate our performance calendar for the year with our Activities/Athletic Director to avoid scheduling conflicts.  If an athletic event conflict arises our policy is that I have conversation with the AD and coach.  We determine which of the two events is in the best interest of the student/programs and tell the student where they are to be.  the understanding is that they will be exempt from the other activity.  By not putting the student in the middle we have always been able to reach an amicable compromise.  It has also fostered goodwill with coaches.

 

With regard to sudden illness we ask that a parent fire us an email or leave a voicemail on our office extension when they know the student cannot come.  This serves as a excuse for exemption.

 

Family trips, college visits, et al are worked out on a "by case" basis with the parents in advance.  Because everyone knows ahead of time they generally try to avoid our dates and, when they cannot, we mutually determine what the best option is.

 

The thing that seems to work well with this system is that it creates a climate where mutual conversation and collaboration between the choral directors, coaches, administration, parents and students is encouraged.  Our policy is to NEVER put the student "in the middle" and to balance the needs of the programs with those of the students.  My sense, in reading your post, is that you feel the same way.  Penn Relays for us would be a no-brainier... The student would be at the relays.  Rather thana "0" we just don't enter any points.  It doesn't hurt the grade but it doesn't enhance it either.

 

All the best!  And be grateful you have athletes, etc. in your program.  My athletes add "credibility" and usually bring a wonderful work ethic.

I would add to your conflict reasons performance conflicts with student clubs (no faculty participation), both musical theater and "a cappella," at the college level. One of my colleagues requests that students sign a form at the beginning of the year stating that they will attend that year's concert dates.

James Olesen

 

Welcome to high school music directing! This problem is inherent in the job, IMO.

 

At the school where I teach, the band director and I have similar policies in order to keep things consistent throughout the department. We have a policy for excused absences and one for unexcused. I consider an excused absence to be anything that would be excused from the school day, illness, death in the family, etc., including athletic events. You are right, you can't hold an absence against an athlete who may have a scholarship on the line. If a student is excused from a concert, they are given an alternate assignment to makeup the lost points. I have asked students to write a short essay about a piece, or the composer of a piece that we are singing, or to meet with me outside of class to perform their parts for me. Unexcused absences such as not having a ride, sleeping through an alarm (yep, that's happened on contest day before), or just plain forgetting results in a zero with no makeup assignment. Sometimes you have to look at the circumstances individually, though. For example, this year I had a girl who needed to miss our contest because her parents already had plane tickets for a family vacation to Hawaii. They had purchased them before school started. This student however, said something to me as soon as she knew of the conflict and I was able to give her an alternate assignment. I make these expectations clear at the beginning of the school year and put them in writing in the handbook, which then has a page for students and parents to sign and return to me. I have situations every year, but I have not had too many problems as long as I am consistent with me policy. Good Luck!

 

David Headings

Hi!  It's tough, isn't it?  I deal with this, too.

 

My band director follows the standard policy for the music teachers in our district:  A two letter grade drop for the quarter for an absence, excused or unexcused.

 

i do something different:  Recent research is heading in a direction in which a teacher would give 50 percent credit for a failed exam.  The kid is still failing, but it won't necessarily tank the grade.  I have modified it somewhat.  I am currently grading everything as 4, 3, 2, 1, but I used the idea when concerts were worth mega points.  SBG:  if they miss a performance for an unexcused reason (only illness that day with doctor note or death in family is excused), they get a 1 and can do an assignment to bring it up to a 2.  Excused absence, 2 and they can bring it up to 3.  Unexcused with no prior notice:  0. Students who attend on time in uniform, 4.  Out of uniform or late, 3.  It is working well.  Performances are worth 30 percent of the grade.  It's easily modified for points.

 

Just like everyone on the post so far, this has been something I have struggled with over the years.  We are making a move to standards referenced grades in the next couple of years so as a department we have been trying something the last 2 years that has worked rather well.  We all know that we want kids to have the concert experience, but sometimes life happens.  If our ultimate aim is to assess a student's ability to participate in a concert, it truly is impossible to "make up" a concert.  However, we should try to get as close to it as possible.  So, instead of excusing an absence with a parent letter, good excuse, etc. and not being able to assess their ability to sing in a concert (which is our goal) we have them "resing" the concert.  It is a very easy setup.  We already video record every concert.  For a concert resing, singers watch the concert video and sing their part with the choir, recording themselves with an audio recorder or a video recorder.  Then, the singer has the opportunity to show that they can show the skill, or close to the skill, you are hoping to assess.  I hope this makes sense.  It really helped me not be disappointed when a singer misses a concert and has held them accountable.  If a singer is less than confident about videoing alone, I have allowed them to find a friend to sing with them from their choir.  If more than one singer from that choir was absent, I will have them complete the resing together.  Thoughts on this technique?  I feel it is a policy that can be consistently enforced regardless of the reason they missed and is easy to grade and does not take a large amount of instructor time to set up.

Welcome to high school...! Our campus has a conflict policy on book stating exactly how students handle conflicts between atheletic and acdamemic events. Since we put this in place a year ago I haven't had any issues with atheletic events. Other things, like major family events (weddings, etc) are another issue. I have a conflict policy that states that students must apply to have their conflict approved 30 days before the concert or they forfeit the grade, and since performances amount to exams, the grades associated with them are hefty. (Last minute things, like illness or a death in the family I handle on a case by case basis.) If the student has a conflict approved then they are allowed to do a makeup assignment. 

 

There will always be conflicts and kids who on occasion don't show up for a concert, the thing that will save your sanity in the long run is to have an iron clad policy in place that is in your syllabus, that your administration is supportive of, and the kids' parents have to sign. When I have a student that misses something or a parent who emails as the last minute to say their kid can't attend for some reason I just zap them back a scanned copy of the contract they signed, a link to the policy on our website and CC the vice principal. It usually solves the problem quite quickly.

Dear Kathleen:

In various secondary music teaching positions, I have dealt with these issues in various ways over the years... I have come up with what I think is the best-case solution that suits me and my community. All concerts/performances are treats as if they are major tests. Occasionally, students miss major tests and if they do, they are required to make them up. So, I assign a major writing assignment that (a) allows those who inadvertently miss the concert to make up the grade, and (b) makes the writing assignment so tough and onerous that anyone that is thinking about just flippantly skipping out, changes their mind. I tell everyone ahead of time what the make-up assignment will be; so far, everyone -- when given the choice -- has chosen to sing in the concert.

These writing assignments have varied from writing full-page biographies of the composers of our concert music, to writing full-page reviews of the concert as if they were there in attendance, to writing analyses of the lyrics/poetry of our pieces. One student had her Bat Mitzvah the morning after the concert, and dutifully completed the make-up assignment ahead of time.

As both a teacher and a parent, I understand both sides of this situation. The general rule of scheduling in our family is that whatever gets on the calendar first becomes the priority -- whether it is a sports event, a concert or whatever.

It is hard, though, to pass judgement on decisions that these parents make... I try not to "pass judgement", per se, but prefer to deal with the absence as any other teacher would do.

 

Ron Isaacson

Germantown, MD