Tardiness consequences

The following information was provided by a therapist working on a United States school in response to a post from a member who received a letter from the school about her son's tardiness. The letter stated:

"You should be aware that according to law, should your child accumulate four unexcused absences in a month or ten unexcused absences during the year he/she would be considered truant and a referral from the school will be filed with the proper authorities."

The SS member feared that 'proper authorities' meant Departments of Children and Families (DCF).

Please don't confuse your own issues from when you were in school with the rules of the modern day public school system and the responsibility the state and federal government puts on public schools to educate our nation's children.

I can address how No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has impacted schools and how truancy is dealt with here in [my state] so that you can compare it to your state.

First: No matter where you live, if a student is not in school (where he is supposed to be, when he is supposed to be there), he is truant, meaning absent. Parents having trouble getting their child to school on time is not an excuse in the eyes of the court or the state legislature who make the law regarding compulsory attendance for public school children. In [my state], parents are held in violation of the states compulsory attendance laws every day, which usually results in a several hundred dollar fine, community service (for the student), and possible jail time for the parent who does not comply.

Due to [my state] compulsory attendance laws, if a student is more than 10 minutes late to a class, he is absent....this is because of the number of hours of "seat time" a student must be present in class in order to pass to the next grade or get credit (if in high school).

Even more interesting, if a high school student who attends multiple classes in a day's time is absent all day, then it gets counted as an absence in EACH class period. So, say truancy was filed on a high school student who takes 7 classes in a day and has missed 10 days. How the school and the courts view that is NOT 10 absences, but 70 absences, due to the instructional time missed in each class. Again, credits are at stake.

In [my state], the time missed must be made up or the student does not earn credit for the class. It is indeed possible for a student to pass a class, but not get credit due to excessive absences....and, unfortunately, this scenario is pretty common.

In [my state], an absence is an absence whether it is excused or not. Medically excused absences require a health care professional's excuse for the student and even then the parents and the student must go before an attendance review committee if the absences exceed a certain number of days, which is usually around 6 per semester, but that can vary among school districts and the nature of the student's illness.

A note from Mom saying that Junior was home with a stomach ache does not constitute a medical excuse. Does not mean that the excuse is unexcused, just means that the student was not in school and there is no official documentation as to why. And, if absences (including those from tardies) mount up, then such absences start to become unexcused due to the history of the family.

The law requires that you be warned by letter when you are on the verge of crossing into violation of the compulsory attendance laws of your state due to your child's absence from school and remember, being tardy is being absent from school because your child is not where he is supposed to be when he is supposed to be there. In my district, we send out a second letter after the very next absence stating that we are filing truancy on the student.

The theory goes that the citizenry wants an educated populace; formal public schooling takes place in the public school classrooms; if the student is not in the classroom, then he is not being educated and the laws put the hammer to the schools to make sure that situation is corrected without exception.

Regarding a visit from DCF: I would be very, very careful how I handled my conversation with the principal so as to not arouse undue suspicion. Most likely, filing with the "proper authorities" means the governing agency for school attendance, such as municipal court.

However, if the school suspects that you are not taking care of business by not getting your child to school, they may very well call DCF in order to get check out what is going on and see if you are in need of various kinds of assistance. And they are bound by law to do this; some districts are quicker than others in making that call.

I would apologize to the principal without giving excuses or going into any detail, tell him that you did not realize the gravity of the problem, ask what does your student need to do to make up any time missed (whether elementary aged or a senior), and that it will not happen again.....and then make doubly sure that it does not....and I know that will be hard for you; I totally understand.

Contributed by Moodle