“I feel scared to take days off, even when I’m severely sick because I don’t want to lose credits,” said Washington Blask ’26 to the Register Forum.
The rollout of the new CRLS attendance policy was announced at the start of the 2025–26 school year in a bulk welcome-back email sent out by Principal Alan Gately Gehant. Unlike the previous system where the only consequence was receiving an Attendance Violation (AV), this new modification tightens restrictions on the disciplinary actions for excessive, chronic absences. Instead of merely receiving an AV, students could face the consequence of losing course credit as well.
Many students believe that this new policy has been unclear. Nora Peirce ’26 said to the Register Forum that “everyone has a different idea of what constitutes a tardy, absence, or AV… I think there needs to be more clarity in terms of what the policy actually is.”
A common source of confusion for students is what type of absences are included towards the credit-loss threshold. The CRLS student handbook lists 10 exceptions (such as observance of major religious holidays, legal requirements, etc.) that will not count towards an AV. However, these exceptions aren’t strictly categorized as excused or unexcused on Aspen leading to ambiguity.
To clarify, the Dean of Learning Community L, Mr. Timothy Mellon, told the RF that only unexcused absences outside of the 10 exceptions count towards AVs. Regarding sick days, Mr. Mellon explained that while the absence will be marked as “AE” (absent excused), without formal documentation, the “AE” could still “count towards an AV.
When prompted about the effects of this alteration, he noted that in comparison to last year, “we’ve seen a drastic increase in student attendance with this new attendance policy.” The school administration pointed out that student accountability plays a big role in this change, aiming to support students’ future paths by encouraging more participation.
However, this policy has sparked varied opinions. Arman Ouassaidi ’27 shared his indifference towards the policy. A participant of wrestling and jiu-jitsu unaffiliated with the school, he has often been dismissed early for tournaments, but calmly waved off the possibility of getting an AV or No Credit. This doesn’t mean that all students with extracurriculars aren’t troubled.
Some students worry that this new policy may prevent them from pursuing their extracurricular activities outside of school with absences needing to be officially approved by the school administration.
Quarter 4 may see the greatest effects of this policy, particularly for seniors, who have a higher likelihood of losing course credit for having seven or more unexcused absences. “I’m hopeful we won’t have many AVs for seniors,” assured Mr. Mellon. In the next few days, automated emails will go out to students and families detailing the number of student absences. “We’re really putting emphasis on [CRLS students] finishing out strong; finishing their high school careers on a high note and making sure they’re there and present.”
This article also appears in our October 2025 print edition.
