Let's see...
75 was the lowest passing grade in elementary and middle school
65 was the lowest in high school
Seniors had perks if their average was 80+ (mine never was lol), but since a full this of my grade averaged 90+, we caused that to be bumped to 85+ lol
Senior perks were stuff like automatic passes, ability to go to the deli during lunch, small things like that
So stuff I never would've used anyway
Of course the senior pass wasn't supposed to carry anyone else but my freshman year a senior took me along with hers to pick up stuff for the class (still within the school), so that prolly changed between those years lol

Basically unless you were between classes, you had to have a written pass from a teacher, or something held that's usually obnoxious, and they'd only allow a few at a time
With a senior pass, you don't need that. Some teachers still had a senior pass holder ask to go wherever, but most you could tell them "hey I'm going to x I have senior pass" and they'd be cool with it
Most often used in study hall, or if you had to take a note somewhere or some such
Gym didn't have them, but gym was just taking up attendance to the nurse's office cuz no computer to input it down at the gym

We had a problem with kids going out if class and just skipping the entire class, so it was an attempt to curb that
Keep in mind that we had this system even when I was in middle school, and the entire middle/high school had it, so it was likely caused by a group messing it up for everyone
Senior pass, those with high enough grades are responsible enough to not be doing that crap so they have a bit more leeway

Like the one year on the school bus a handful of troublemakers pissed the driver off enough that we got assigned seats
All of us
Younger kids and troublemakers up front, older kids who behaved in back
We did rearrange/shuffle a little cuz then no seat would be empty (plus one senior was fat enough to fill a seat by himself, not exaggerating), and no one would be cramped
Bus driver did catch on, but when we pointed out why, she was okay with it. All because we behaved

If we were in, say, a huge city, maybe
This is a small countryside school where all twelve grades are close together, so there's plenty of eyes to see someone outside when they shouldn't be outside
So if you get dragged to school, hanging out in the bathroom is the best you can do
For us, skipping is just an unexcused absence. Stuff like a doctor's appointment would be an excused absence
I don't think it becomes a problem unless a kid is known to be truant, and consistently

Like if I disappeared for a week, they'd worry
I have done that, but the teachers got advance warning "hey from here to here I'm gonna be at Disney World, what's the homework gonna be like" and that's fine cuz they know that it's not me being weird all of a sudden

Nah, cuz making everyone have assigned seats including them made the entire bus of kids pissed off at them, and that was the point
Hilariously, the next year many of us went on autopilot and went to our assigned seats, though they'd only been until the end of the previous school year lol

Yeah, getting away with stuff by being good helped me before
7th grade history. I have several books from the Dear America series (though the two spin-offs I lack most of the books, and back then I only knew of the My Name is America spin-off). Let my teach borrow them as they became relevant. Early in the year she read to the class parts of the books, but after a point she couldn't do that because she had to give us a lot of info and she didn't have time anymore
That, and I did well in class
We're working on our final project
She tells us that there are two criteria to be exempt from the final exam:
1. Have at least a 95 in that class
2. Turn in the final project
I had the first, history is a subject I like, so high grades in history was nothing new to me
The project? Had it with the rest of my school stuff, finished and ready to go
Forgot it
I wasn't the only one who did that, so she told the entire class that those of us who had forgotten it now had to take the test (which wasn't for another 2-3 days)
She pulled me aside later and told me that I was still exempt
Looking back, I'm pretty sure it's due to the books I let her borrow. I don't think she had even known that they existed until I let her borrow mine

Yeah, if a kid has bad attendance another long skip will be looked into
I wasn't a kid with bad attendance, so between that and that I asked about projects ahead of time, well, I was fine
Dunno about weddings, but funerals were definitely excused

Yeah, I've noticed that in general
Kids gripe about assigned seats but if given the chance will sit in the same spot. One of my classes the teacher allowed us to pick our seats at the beginning of the year, and that would be our assigned seat for her class
She didn't expect anyone to pick the one waaaaay in back, all by itself
I did lol
She went with it, except for one time the assistant principal was supervising. Then she had me sit up with the rest of the class for that day

It was, oh, the last week or two of school, and the test took two or three days. She did a blanket statement, didn't name specifically, so I don't think any noticed

They are, as they follow everyday kids
Dear America is all girls, from about 10-15, with a few exceptions
My Name is America follows boys, I think from 12-18
My America seems to be even younger, both boys and girls, and comes in three books. The one I have, I only have the first two, and the character is nine
Most are during major events or tragedies, but some aren't
For the most part, the boy and girl versions of each other don't interact, like they're entirely separate
Same for those that are close together in time and location
I can think of one exception, and that's the Vietnam War two. Brother and sister, both got a journal for Christmas. I don't have his book though, so I wasn't able to cross-reference them
Someday...

I went through strict strict catholic school. The attendance policy is a big factor on why I went to community college. Every day you missed you lost 1% in about half of the classes. My senior year I had really bad anxiety and agoraphobia. I missed like 27 days and being a B-C student already it killed my grades and i graduated by the skin of my teeth