Online classes - student says his learning style is different so he doesn't attend
This is a hard question since it has so many elements to consider. Let me begin, at least, though I may need to add more over time.
First, however, consider your own somewhat precarious position. If you do something that isn't really in accord with the rules, but lack tenure, then you might be at risk if your more senior colleagues object to it. The solution to that is to start a local discussion to see what people in your department see as reasonable exceptions for uncommon times.
The more important question, generally, of course, is what is pedagogically good for the student so that they can master the material. This is much harder.
For this, first note that you have, I hope, set up the course structure so that most, if not all students can learn and be fairly judged. You set lectures, perhaps, readings, exercises, projects, discussions, etc. so that learning is highly likely to occur when students apply the necessary effort.
So, at a minimum, the student wanting an exception, needs to be warned that they may be lessening their likelihood of success by deviating from what has been established and that they are taking on some risk in doing so. There are, of course, people who learn very effectively on their own and can demonstrate it. For them, rigidity has no benefit.
But, beyond that, if you are going to allow exceptions, which you might here, you also need to start to think about the whole structure and how such students will be evaluated fairly. Beyond evaluation, however, is the issue of giving them reasonable feedback in a way that fits whatever scale you need to teach in. If you have appropriate exercises (for reinforcement) and can give proper feedback then such a system of &quot;exceptions&quot; can be successful. But if a student simply disappears and then suddenly reappears for an exam, then it is harder to judge whether they have learned what they need. This is for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that exams are a poor way to judge overall learning.
And, specializing to CS, it may be that some group work is essential to the educational process and this might be more difficult to achieve if students want certain kinds of exceptions.
So, my advice is to think about the entire educational structure and how it might be maintained properly if some part of it has to be modified in some way. Unfortunately this is a long term research issue that is difficult to apply in the short term under pressure of a pandemic.
And don't forget to get buy-in from your local colleagues.