District Policies Force Teachers to Create Endless Makeup Work for Every Absence, Destroying Planning Time

Summary

Teachers are required by district policy to generate and administer makeup assessments and equivalent substitute assignments for every absence — including unexcused ones, family vacations, athletics, and interactive lessons like Socratic seminars or debates that cannot be replicated. With 10+ students absent on a typical day and chronic absenteeism now routine, teachers give up lunch periods and planning time to build and proctor individual makeups that cover the same standards. Existing LMS and gradebook tools only record absences; they do nothing to generate standards-aligned makeup equivalents, manage the logistics, or help enforce attendance. Nothing on the market lets a teacher quickly produce reliable makeup work for unreplicable activities or push back on an unworkable policy, making this a severe, high-volume, unsolved source of burnout that directly consumes instructional and prep time.