Seattle Public Schools announced before the city’s Seahawks Super Bowl celebration that “parade attendance will not be considered an excused absence” from school. Many students and teachers didn’t care.
School officials told the Seattle Times that thousands of students and hundreds of staff skipped school for the parade. The district estimated 12,697 students and 663 staff staff were absent. It’s unclear how many of those were for illness or other reasons, but a Seattle Public Schools spokesperson said several hundred more staff than normal were out.
Superintendent Ben Shuldiner acknowledged that many students were out with their parents’ permission, even if the school didn’t consider it an excused absence.
“Did some families take their kids to march? Absolutely. To go watch the wonderful Seattle Seahawks, your world champions,” Shuldiner said. “But you know what we always do? We put our 50,000 kids front and center. . . . They deserve to have school, our families deserve to have their kids in school.”
Seattle schools took a different approach than recent Super Bowl winners. Philadelphia closed schools last year for its Super Bowl celebration, as did Kansas City two years ago.
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