S/O School absences

hokies94 · March 2014

Some people mentioned excused absences in the Disney post below. Does your school (elem) actually track excused/unexcused?

When my kids are absent I just have to call and say they won't be there. I don't have to give a reason just let them know they're not coming. I don't have to send notes in either after they've been absent. The kids let the teacher know if they've been sick or if we've been out of town but we are not required to let them know that I'm aware of. I've never sent a written explanation for an absence.

There is no differentiation between excused/unexcused that I've seen. Report cards just show absences.

I'm sure it will change in middle/high school but in elem an absence is just an absence.

lollitots · March 2014

The school gets their per student funding for excused absences, so they want to know why we are out and they do track them that way.

Court0026 · March 2014

We have to provide a note and it is preferred that we also call the nurse the day of if they are sick. I am clueless about unexcused absences.

penguingrrl · March 2014

Our school is very strict. They make it clear from the day you register for K what the rules are. If your child is sick you have to tell the nurse what they're sick with so they know what might be going around. If they aren't sick there are very few allowed absences. Bereavement is allowed, doctors appointment is allowed and that's basically it.

The difference between excused and unexcused for us is that an excused absence means that your child will be allowed to make up any work or tests missed. Unexcused means no make ups (so if they missed a test it's a zero that is factored into their grade). After a certain number of unexcused they call the truant officer in our police department to report the family (it's rare but has been done).

This policy has been in place since before I started there in 1986. I grew up with it, so it set my mindset about missing school.

mandymack · March 2014

They absolutely keep track, it's the law, and if you have 18 or more unexcused absences, which is 10% of the days they are in school, you can't legally move on to the next grade and as a parent you can and most likely will face truancy criminal charges and fines.

Here's the California Education Code:

Excused Absences

Under California Education Code section 48205, a pupil shall be excused from school when the absence is:
1. Due to the student’s Illness.

2. Due to quarantine by a county of city health officer.
3. Due to a medical doctor’s appointment.
4. Attendance at a funeral of an immediate family member (1 day if in California, up to 3 days if out of state).
5. Jury duty
6. Due to the illness or medical appointment of a child of whom the student is the custodial parent.Justifiable personal reasons including (but not limited to):

a. religious holidays or celebrations,
b. appearance in court,
c. attendance at a funeral,
d. attendance at an employment conference (requires previous
approval by the school principal), or
f. working at an election precinct.

All students absent from school under any of the above stated reasons are entitled to complete all assignments and tests missed during the period of absence. Completion must be within a reasonable period of time and shall be given full credit.

Unexcused Absences

Unexcused absences are those absences that do not meet the above listed criteria. An unexcused absence may be either an unverified absence (i.e. when a student “cuts” school) or a verified unexcused absence that occurs with the approval of the parent or guardian, without a prearranged agreement with a school administrator. For example, missing school due to a family vacation is considered an unexcused absence.

This varies state to state and doesn't typically apply to private institutions.

notkateanymore · March 2014

They track excused vs unexcused absences and tardies. It's on their report cards.

meglew · March 2014

KateMW said:

They track excused vs unexcused absences and tardies. It's on their report cards.

This is true for us as well.

roxy_jj · March 2014

I'm in CA too, so the policy is the same as ToBeMrs.Shavers. DD's school is very strict about unexcused absences. When we went to the kindergarten orientation, the principal spoke at length about excused vs. unexcused absences.

hokies94 · March 2014

Wow, some of those are pretty strict policies, especially at the elem level.

I just looked for our official policy and it seems that in my county it's up to each school. My kids elem doesn't have a written attendance policy. It seems the high schools do, but I only found one elem school (out of 22) that have a written policy. There are recommendations in the county wide handbook but no official policy.

Those policies would definitely change my view of taking kids out of school for vacations.

I'm in VA.

mandymack · March 2014

That's so crazy to me, @scorpio72 because public schools are state-funded and they only receive the $X per child per day of those in attendance.

You'd think all school's would impeccably track attendance, especially with how underfunded most of them are.

JCM · March 2014

I'm not sure what the rules are in TX now but when I was in elementary school (1980's) an absence was excused only if it was accompanied by a doctor's note (I'm sure a funeral would have been excused too). So even if my mom wrote a note for me to turn in when I went back to school it wasn't truly excused unless I saw a doctor. If a child had 10 or more unexcused absences during a school year they wouldn't be promoted to the next grade even if they were straight A students.

Chapter79 · March 2014

Yes they track it! We have a portal thing through the school we can go into.. and it had a calendar on there with their absences and how many are excused vs un. And you WILL get contacted if there's unexcused over a certain amount. We also have to write a note the day they go back with the reason they were gone. It's been like this forever, was the same when I was in school (ok, minus the online tracking of it).

hokies94 · March 2014

TobeMrsShavers said:

That's so crazy to me, @scorpio72 because public schools are state-funded and they only receive the $X per child per day of those in attendance.

You'd think all school's would impeccably track attendance, especially with how underfunded most of them are.

Our county does not seem to be underfunded compared to most. The papers are constantly reporting how much more our county spends per student compared to neighboring counties/cities.

Attendance is also not a huge issue here so maybe that plays into the non written policies. Parents are so damn competitive/helicopter type around here that missing school is generally not a problem.

Chapter79 · March 2014

LalaMama81 said:

It seems odder to me that an elementary school wouldn't have an attendance policy at all.

Agree. Honestly, I think that's a terrible policy. I don't get the mentality of "lessening" things simply because the children are younger. Do 5, 6, 10 year olds not need rules just because they're smaller? They should be allowed to do whatever just because they're not in higher grades? To me, this is what having NO policy at all kind of tells me. Like the parents don't have to care because the kids are young. THAT is when good habits form and start. By junior high- forget it.
I've never even heard of a school not having one.

AimeeL85 · March 2014

JCM said:

I'm not sure what the rules are in TX now but when I was in elementary school (1980's) an absence was excused only if it was accompanied by a doctor's note (I'm sure a funeral would have been excused too). So even if my mom wrote a note for me to turn in when I went back to school it wasn't truly excused unless I saw a doctor. If a child had 10 or more unexcused absences during a school year they wouldn't be promoted to the next grade even if they were straight A students.

I think all of the attendance policies talked about here seem reasonable but I think this would annoy me if it was the case when my kids go to school. Like today, DS is home (just from preschool) because he has a nasty cold. No way could I have sent him to school, he's miserable, coughing, nose running like a faucet, tired....but definitely not something I need to bring him to a Dr. for because I know it's just a cold. If he were in elementary school and got an unexcused absence because I didn't schlep him off to the Dr. for this I'd be ticked.

penguingrrl · March 2014

AimeeL85 said:

JCM said:

I'm not sure what the rules are in TX now but when I was in elementary school (1980's) an absence was excused only if it was accompanied by a doctor's note (I'm sure a funeral would have been excused too). So even if my mom wrote a note for me to turn in when I went back to school it wasn't truly excused unless I saw a doctor. If a child had 10 or more unexcused absences during a school year they wouldn't be promoted to the next grade even if they were straight A students.

I think all of the attendance policies talked about here seem reasonable but I think this would annoy me if it was the case when my kids go to school. Like today, DS is home (just from preschool) because he has a nasty cold. No way could I have sent him to school, he's miserable, coughing, nose running like a faucet, tired....but definitely not something I need to bring him to a Dr. for because I know it's just a cold. If he were in elementary school and got an unexcused absence because I didn't schlep him off to the Dr. for this I'd be ticked.

Our rule is any sickness over 3 days requires a doctors note, which makes sense to me. Otherwise they do ask because they track things so they can know if there's something major going around, but don't need a doctor's note for a kid who's out for 1-2 days with a cold or fever.

AimeeL85 · March 2014

That makes sense, @penguingrrl! I was hoping someone would shed some light on that for me. Maybe by the time they're in real school my kids won't be sick allllll winter long!

penguingrrl · March 2014

AimeeL85 said:

That makes sense, @penguingrrl! I was hoping someone would shed some light on that for me. Maybe by the time they're in real school my kids won't be sick allllll winter long!

They won't, or at least my kids aren't. Julia has missed an average of 3 days a year. Emma had one sick day last year and so far hasn't had any this year.

jnksmom · March 2014

They do keep track in our school. Sickness and bereavement are excused with only a parent note but each child is only allowed 10 days absent with a parent note. After that they will contact the truancy officer.
the difference in excused and us excused is whether or not the student is allowed to makeup the work.

mandymack · March 2014

I think, like with everything these days, it all boils down to money. Without butts in the seats, the schools don't get their funding.

kayla&joe said:

This is all a little crazy to me. I missed a lot of school as a kid/teenager because I was showing horses all across the country. I know my parents had received at least a few truancy letters but nothing was ever done about it. I get that attendance affects how the schools get their money but I really don't see the issue if the kids are able to keep up with the work (while on vacation, etc).

penguingrrl · March 2014

kayla&joe said:

This is all a little crazy to me. I missed a lot of school as a kid/teenager because I was showing horses all across the country. I know my parents had received at least a few truancy letters but nothing was ever done about it. I get that attendance affects how the schools get their money but I really don't see the issue if the kids are able to keep up with the work (while on vacation, etc).

In my district it's not money related at all. It has to do with the fact that if you aren't in class you aren't learning the material and there's no way to substitute what is done in the classroom like that.

I did know a young woman who was dancing professionally as a HS student. She was also homeschooled because there was no way she could possibly attend school and have a dance career. Homeschooling allowed her to get her HS diploma, attend community college classes as a high school student and still focus on her dance career.

hokies94 · March 2014

penguingrrl said:

AimeeL85 said:

That makes sense, @penguingrrl! I was hoping someone would shed some light on that for me. Maybe by the time they're in real school my kids won't be sick allllll winter long!

They won't, or at least my kids aren't. Julia has missed an average of 3 days a year. Emma had one sick day last year and so far hasn't had any this year.

We have good years and bad years. This year we haven't had any sick days for any of the kids. Last year DD#1 seemed to catch every bug that went around.

ariel06 · March 2014

We are required to have called in if our kids is sick (or out for any reason) by the start of the school day. Anyone not called in, then is called until they get a hold if a parent.

The high school offers prizes for perfect attendance. I won a $500 bike my freshman year. Seniors were eligible to win a (used) car. It was usually down to less than 10 students.

LoveBeingMama · March 2014

The middle school I taught in did not track or make a big deal about excused/unexcused absences. We often had students pulled out of school for vacations, doctor/dentist appointments, traveling teams, etc. I believe that as long as a parent called the student in, it was excused. Students were able to make up anything they missed while absent. Only if they had an excessive amount of absences, and were possibly truant, would the school do something about the issue. I don't know how attendance and state funding are linked in my state, but I believe it has something to do with the number of students in attendance on the first day (week??) of school. After that, I am not sure how they link the two.

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