Eighth-grader faces penalty for skipping class

WESTFIELD, Ind. -- An eighth-grader's singing performance during President Bush's visit this week to Indianapolis has her facing a string of zeros for the class work she missed that day.\nBrianna Tull missed four classes and part of a fifth Tuesday at Westfield Middle School because she was singing with the Indianapolis Children's Choir during Bush's appearance at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.\nHer mother, Chris Tull, said she sent an e-mail to the school in the suburban town north of Indianapolis to explain the absence and was shocked at the principal's response.\n"I received an e-mail stating although it was a good opportunity for Brianna, it would be unexcused," Tull said. "If attending a presidential speech isn't educational, I don't know what is."\nDistrict Superintendent Mark Keen said Friday he had received at least six phone calls and 150 e-mails about the decision and that administrators would meet soon to review whether the absence should be excused.\n"One of the things we're doing is going back and looking at this, but we need to know all the factors that were taken into account and talk amongst ourselves as an administrative team," Keen said.\nChris Tull said school officials told her that the absence might have been excused had she submitted a written request 30 days before the absence. That was impossible, she said, since the choir did not know about its invitation until four days before Bush's speech.\nBrianna Tull said she had no regrets about missing school to see the president, even though she is angry about being punished for it.\n"I was like -- how can they do this?" she said. "The policy is completely ridiculous"