Keeping kids in school during cold and flu season can be challenging, but one Tennessee school district developed what it thought was an innovative solution:
The district passed a new policy decreeing that children who miss school due to illness — even with a doctor’s note — will not receive an excused absence.
Additionally, the district warned that even as few as three absences total could lead to consequences that could include truancy court.
The policy, put into place in the summer of 2025 by the Lawrence County Board of Education, was said to be in response to the district’s “chronic absenteeism,” but not everyone was a fan of the decision.
One woman took to TikTok, complaining that the school district wanted to create 'factory workers' who 'won't complain like their parents.'
Jill (@just.chill.jill) pointed out that in addition to the sick policy, the school district also decided to only give students 20 minutes for lunch — time that included walking to the lunch room, opening up their lunch, eating, and getting back to class.
“So they’re now punishing children for being sick and needing time to eat because they want to create factory workers who won’t complain like their parents are,” Jill said.
She also accused the school district of trying to teach children that “sometimes you need to push through sickness and have a good work ethic, so that when they get into the workforce, they know that sickness is not an excuse for not working.”
Her accusation was not unfounded, as the Director of the Schools did admit that it was part of the reasoning behind the rule.
The Director of Schools said 'it's fine' for kids to come to school with 'the sniffles,' and suggested students could benefit learning to go to work 'sick' and 'beat up.'
When introducing the policy in June, Director of Schools Michael Adkins defended the policy, the Oklahoma Voice reported.
“And if you’ve got the sniffles, that’s fine,” Adkins said. “You’re going to have them when you go to work one day. We’ve all gone to work sick and hurt and beat up. I think as a group and society we’re losing that reliability and that opportunity begins in the school house.”
After public outcry, the school district walked back on their decision.
The school district’s controversial decision had made national headlines and garnered a petition of over 3,000 parents signing in support of the board reversing the decision.
In August, shortly before school started, the board did just that.
They voted to reinstate doctors’ notes as excused absences, although they kept their decision to refer parents to truancy court after eight unexcused absences.
“We have listened to the community and we have made some adjustments to the attendance policies,” a board chairman told the crowd at the meeting.
“If they really wanted to cut back on sick days they should feed the children better food and give them more time to eat,” observed a commenter on Jill’s original video.
“We coulda built any society, by the way,” quipped another. “All of this was voluntary.”
