How many days can your child miss school?

[mefordis]

Do you know how many days your child is able to miss school without getting a warning and being held back?

My child has missed 9 days so far - today she has a bad cold and is coughing and crying so I have to keep her home. 9 days seems excessive to me and I'm scared they will call me and threaten to hold her back. She is in 1st grade.

I looked up the school policy online and they are vague -- they don't specify the number of absences before being held back.

What is your school policy?

(She is a good student and at the top of class in reading, so I feel like she is still keeping up. Not that I think it matters if the policy is a certain number of days per year.)

Thanks!

 

[msjprincess]

I don't know the number but I highly doubt a 1st grader would be held back for missing 10 days of school.

 

[BCDisneyFanatic]

Do you know how many days your child is able to miss school without getting a warning and being held back?

My child has missed 9 days so far - today she has a bad cold and is coughing and crying so I have to keep her home. 9 days seems excessive to me and I'm scared they will call me and threaten to hold her back. She is in 1st grade.

I looked up the school policy online and they are vague -- they don't specify the number of absences before being held back.

What is your school policy?

(She is a good student and at the top of class in reading, so I feel like she is still keeping up. Not that I think it matters if the policy is a certain number of days per year.)

Thanks!

Why do you not think it matters if she keeps up? In my mind, that should be the main (possibly only) criteria for holding a child back.

Although it is a lot, nine days doesn't seem that excessive to me. One bad case of pneumonia will knock you out of school for at least two weeks (10 days), and I've never heard of a child getting held back for that. As long as her absences are legitimate, I wouldn't think you'd have a problem.

 

[GoofyforDisney3]

Not sure about being held back but I know here if you hit 10 days you are supposed to get a letter warning you and then at each additional day (or two) you have other contact up to going to court.

 

[Tink888]

In our district students can miss up to 10 days before a warning is issued. After that amount doctor's excuses are required.

I would not worry about your daughter being held back. If she isn't behind in her work she should be fine.

 

[golfgal]

I think our official school policy is 10 days/trimester-so 30 days a year of unexcused absences. Illness is excused--unless the school has good reason not to believe that the child is actually sick . DD's best friend has missed over a month of school in the past 3 months with mono and complications of mono and she has no worried about moving on to 11th grade.

10 days is a lot, I agree, but some kids just get sick more than others. Perhaps it is time to evaluate when you allow your child to stay home too. Just a cold really isn't reason to stay home but a fever, vomiting or lethargy sure are.

 

[threecrazykids]

Our schools policy is 7 days for every 9 weeks. After that, the parents are brought in and have to sign something from the school. The students also have to stay after school every day for 1 hour from the day of return until ALL assignments, tests, and to study until they are caught up. Also, after the 7th absence the school can require a doctor's excuse for every absence following. In the case of an extended absence (say mono) they have to appeal for an extension of absence.

Nowhere in our schools policy does it state any direct measures as far as holding a student back. However, the teachers really can force a kid to stay after school, or come in before school, miss extra curricular activities as long as that student is behind on any assignments, or if they aren't up to speed and passing tests.

Pretty much at their mercy at that point.

 

[mefordis]

I think our official school policy is 10 days/trimester-so 30 days a year of unexcused absences. Illness is excused--unless the school has good reason not to believe that the child is actually sick . DD's best friend has missed over a month of school in the past 3 months with mono and complications of mono and she has no worried about moving on to 11th grade.

10 days is a lot, I agree, but some kids just get sick more than others. Perhaps it is time to evaluate when you allow your child to stay home too. Just a cold really isn't reason to stay home but a fever, vomiting or lethargy sure are.

I completely agree about the cold but she has such a low tolerance for discomfort and she is laying around and crying about her nose, etc. She is not a tough one, I'll admit.

I really hope she doesn't get sick for the rest of the year. I would hate to be contacted by the school after 10 absences!

 

[DisneyNutMary]

In NYC, the policy is that a student is held back if they miss 10% of the school year which amounts to approx 18 days. And if parents are not informing the school daily of absences, you can expect a visit from truant officers...but I think that is only in upper grades.

 

[Magpie]

Ours is totally vague. I looked it up.

Apparently every time there's an absence, the parent is supposed to provide a written note, but I've never seen that enforced. Usually a phone call is enough.

"Extended absences" are frowned upon (there's no definition of "extended"), but if a parent does take a child out for an extended period of time, then they're responsible for the course material.

If a child is going to be out for a month or more (say, for serious illness or hospitalization), I do know you can arrange to get the course material and the school will put you in contact with a distance teacher.

A family lawyer friend of mine says the only time she's ever seen "truancy" mentioned in court is in combination with abuse, neglect or delinquency. And there IS a "school refusal" unit at the hospital, but that's for kids whose parents want them in school. Homeschooling is simply a matter of stating clearly your intention to withdraw your kids from school, after which point they're no longer the school district's concern.

OP - I think you're fine. If you were going to hear anything, you'd probably have heard by now.

 

[stacy347]

Here it is 7 days per trimester ~ total of 21 days per school year. If you hit the maximum in HS, you do not get your credit unless you score over a certain percentage on your final exam. There are no excused absences in HS here ~ you're either there or you're not.

In the younger grades you get a warning letter from the school officer, but they don't take action unless they feel you are truly slacking with making the child attend.

 

[Bertie9396]

Wow! I've never heard of any such policies around here. Actually, alot of the schools here have a policy of not holding kids back a grade at all. I don't necessarily agree with that policy though. I don't agree that a child should be held back just for school absences..things happen. I think it should be done on a case-by-case basis based on the child's best interest, in consultation with the teacher, parents, school administration and the child.

 

[golfgal]

I completely agree about the cold but she has such a low tolerance for discomfort and she is laying around and crying about her nose, etc. She is not a tough one, I'll admit.

I really hope she doesn't get sick for the rest of the year. I would hate to be contacted by the school after 10 absences!

Time to toughen her up and not play into her games too. Kids will go as far as you let them. Now, if she is really having issues, fine, but if she is crying about a runny nose, time to adopt the "suck it up buttercup" attitude with her or she is going to continue this. We always used the 'TV test' if we weren't sure how sick the kids were--'ok, you can stay home but in bed, in pj's, no tv, no games, etc." If they were ok with that, they were sick enough to stay home. There were plenty of times you would say this and would get the "well, maybe I am not THAT sick". When they were obviously sick, high fever, etc. it wasn't an issue.

 

[java]

There is a policy here but I know a boy that missed over 60 days and still moved on. So I think it's case by case anyway. (He didn't have a chronic disease- it was upset stomach kind of things) Eventually they had a tutor come in but that was about 45 days into it all. I wouldn't worry about 10 days.

However you are setting up a bad precedent if you allow her to stay home for discomfort. We had to define sick enough to stay home. You don't have to feel perfect to go to school.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Our school does not have a set limit. If kids are sick enough to be home (and if they are sick often or they need to stay home 3 or more days in a row you need a doctor's not) they want them home and resting and the teachers see it as both their job and the student's job to work on being sure they get caught up.

DD14 has been sick A LOT this year. She has missed about 20% of the year Last week was only the second week she managed to not miss ANY days or half days due to illness. I am hoping she gets trhough tomorrow too and then she'll have 3 weeks

A lot of that was related to asthma that was not well diagnosed or properly treated until I inssited on seeing a lung specialist (her pediatrician kept blaming the intense coughs and dizzy spells resulting in fainting on other things--nope turns out it was all the asthma) but she has also caught every bug going around. Week before last she was out three days with a 104 degree fever. So was her best friend. Last week 4 other kids and two teachers had the same thing. This week more. 11 of the 28 kids in her class and 6 of their 8 teachers were out today This is the third virus to tear through the school (actually the entire town) like that. So, they know the kids are being truthful and they all just work together to get them to where they need to be. Nearly every night the class is on facebook or phones informing the kids who missed school of what they missed so that they are not behind when they return.

All that said---I agree with PPs that she should not be allowed to stay home if she feels crummy with a minor cold--only if she is really sick. The real world just does not work that way and she is better off learning that now.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I completely agree about the cold but she has such a low tolerance for discomfort and she is laying around and crying about her nose, etc. She is not a tough one, I'll admit.

I really hope she doesn't get sick for the rest of the year. I would hate to be contacted by the school after 10 absences!

Oh you have my dd huh? We get the nasty gram letter every year. I have to make sure to take her to the doctor every time she stays home, for the most part. Esp. now that she is older.

Here you get "the letter" after 7 days. Now ALL of dd's absences were excused so the letter was to inform me that she was out "X" EXCUSED days so she is entitled to "services" to make up work. Good to know.

She is in 8th now.

My suggestion to you with the discomfort is that you have a set of rules with going to school and staying home. Part of it may be anxiety, esp. if you say she is a good student who is near "the top". They don't like to operate in less than stellar conditions.

I send my dd to school and the school nurse is the person that I am talking to a lot or the counselor. Sometimes it is a group effort to get her through a day when she is getting over something.

Bottom line it is better to send her and then have her call than not send her at all when she does not fall under your "sick rules". And you need to have them if you have a kid like this, trust me.

 

[Katy Belle]

Ten days per semester here. DS13 missed 10 days last semester. The lady in the office told me to make sure he didnt miss any more school until christmas break. I dont know what would have happened. We joked that if they were going to make him repeat the 7 th grade, then he should just stay home 2nd semester!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Ten days per semester here. DS13 missed 10 days last semester. The lady in the office told me to make sure he didnt miss any more school until christmas break. I dont know what would have happened. We joked that if they were going to make him repeat the 7 th grade, then he should just stay home 2nd semester!

Here you can get sent a summons to appear in front of whoever to justify your child's absence. Depends on school who you get sent to. Not sure of details.

With HS you fail the class. You have to be "in class" for a certain number of days in order to get credit for the class. I do think that you get a chance to plead your case.

 

[jodifla]

No set number of days in our district. I've looked and looked and haven't found a policy.

Our son missed about 12 days last year due to the flu, and no letter. I just called him out sick each morning he was out.

 

[clori]

Here is a copy of our policy - Whenever a student’s combined absences for the year reach seven (7) days, a letter will be sent home reminding parents/guardians of their obligation to see that their children attend school. This letter will be sent even if the reason for the absences has been documented, such as in the case of a lengthy illness.

If a child fails to attend school for seven (7) full days or fourteen (14) half-days within any six month period, the supervisor of attendance may file a criminal complaint in court against the responsible parent and/or guardian. When a student has been absent for a total of fourteen (14) days, a parent/guardian meeting with a school administrator is required


Last year my dd missed 7 days due to 2 surgeries and a stomach bug with fever/vomiting. I had medical notes for the surgeries. I didn't take my dd to the drs for her stomach bug but called the nurse. She said if I needed a note they would send one since I called in and they agreed dd didn't need to be seen. I never got a letter though.