How many days can your child miss school?

[mom2rtk]

LOL- I think my 11th grader would be in about 3rd grade now if she was held back every year she missed 15 days!

Our schools it's after 30 days they have the OPTION to hold your child back, my daughter missed around 36 days one year but wasn't held back.

Neither my kids nor I have ever aspired for them to get "perfect attendance" awards.

But that's a lot of missed days.

 

[DeniseinNS]

There is no policy here. My kids have been out sick, appointments, taken out for a week for vacation, etc..... I just call safe arrival at the school and tell them the kids wont be there and its all good. I live in Canada, not sure if it's different here then the USA

 

[Magpie]

There is no policy here. My kids have been out sick, appointments, taken out for a week for vacation, etc..... I just call safe arrival at the school and tell them the kids wont be there and its all good. I live in Canada, not sure if it's different here then the USA

From what I've been told, in many parts of the US school funding is tied to the number of students who are physically present each day. Not enrolled, but present. This can lead to extremely harsh penalties for absence, because every day the child misses is money lost.

In Ontario (not sure about the rest of Canada), funding is tied to "average daily enrollment" - with the emphasis on "enrollment". The school board gets a lump sum from the province, and then disperses it among the schools, based on predicted enrollment (and assorted other factors). Especially in my board, where classrooms are overcrowded and children are often learning in portables, there's no incentive to punish students for being absent.

It also helps that our legal requirements, around the education of children, are extremely vague. It is a parent's responsibility to ensure their child either attends public school or receives a "satisfactory" education at home or elsewhere. That's it. And in my neck of the woods, the only proof needed to satisfy the school board that the child is being satisfactorily educated elsewhere is a single "letter of intent" from the parent, upon withdrawing their child.

As a whole, we're much more laid back about this whole school attendance thing, and have been for generations. And fortunately, we're still doing decently well at educating our kids, compared to the rest of the world. Not the top (that honor goes to China), but still solidly in the top third. The US hasn't done quite as well. http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results-overview.pdf

 

[mommasita]

Normal is 3 days off work for immediate family member (parent, sibling, child). So yeah, that sounds like a lot to me for a great-grandparent - especially since PP said it was only a 4-hour drive each way.

I guess I am fortunate not to be in the "normal" camp. I lost my Mother last Friday. I called in that day as she was in a coma, and I had to make the decision to remove life support that day. Her funeral will not be until this Friday, as we have terrible weather, and she is being buried further up north. When I called in Sunday, my boss was out of town, and had when I offered to come in a few days prior to her funeral to not exceed the five days, she had left me a kind message (knowing I would do so), to not even THINK about being back before the 29th. In total it will be 8 days missed. I work as an emergency response operator, and I have anxiety just thinking about it. There is never a normal situation to me.

 

[Magpie]

I guess I am fortunate not to be in the "normal" camp. I lost my Mother last Friday. I called in that day as she was in a coma, and I had to make the decision to remove life support that day. Her funeral will not be until this Friday, as we have terrible weather, and she is being buried further up north. When I called in Sunday, my boss was out of town, and had when I offered to come in a few days prior to her funeral to not exceed the five days, she had left me a kind message (knowing I would do so), to not even THINK about being back before the 29th. In total it will be 8 days missed. I work as an emergency response operator, and I have anxiety just thinking about it. There is never a normal situation to me.

My sympathies on your loss.

 

[aprilgail]

Neither my kids nor I have ever aspired for them to get "perfect attendance" awards.

But that's a lot of missed days.

Yes that was a very bad year- only 5 of those days were for vacation too the rest were actual sick days, she had a horrible year, H1N1, a seizure, croup, Fifths Disease, Scarlett Fever, Strep over and over and then she was out for surgery and recovery time, glad not to have to repeat that year!

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

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!

Excused: Up to 5 days per grading period/10 days per semester/20 days per school year without a doctor's note for each absence; more are allowed if under a doctor's care. Up to 10 days (2 at a time) for lice.

Unexcused: Anything over 5 in a calendar month or 10 within a 90 day period are referred to the school attendance team.

 

[Hrhpd]

A toast to Zombie threads.

I don't think I have ever heard of a student being held back in our district strictly based on absences. However, there is no makeup work allowed for unexcused absences. So, if you head out to Disney for a week, the teachers are not allowed to give work packets and the student is not allowed to make up any work that was missed while they were gone. Any tests, projects, quizzes or homework that was due while absent will incur a 0. Grades can and will suffer if there are multiple unexcused absence.

Please don't be afraid of the school. If they contact you, so what? Personally, as a parent I appreciate it when parents keep their children home even for a cold. In our district holding a child back or skipping a grade are HUGE deals and aren't really related to how many days of school they missed. There is a huge range of capabilities - especially in the younger grades. So there are kids in third grade and in kindergarten who are currently where your DD is academically. The much bigger factors that determine holding a child back have to do with maturity and emotional development.

There is a reason your schools don't publish hard and fast rules about number of absences. They probably take it on a case by case basis which is good. Just communicate regularly with the school and keep them informed. Be firm and know that you are your DD's parent and will the one who decides whether she's healthy enough to go to school on any given day.

I don't think you can give that advice to everybody. Every district is different and many districts have very strict absence policies with various punishments for absences.

My sibling's district refers unexcused absences to truancy court after 10 in one semester. My niece had to go to truancy court as a freshman. She is now a senior and still has to have every single absence, whether excused or unexcused, submitted to the judge. Unexcused absences are not allowed at all and having an unexcused absence would invoke jail time for the parent. She was under court supervision for her entire high school career because her parents were of the mindset "my child, my decisions."

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I guess I am fortunate not to be in the "normal" camp. I lost my Mother last Friday. I called in that day as she was in a coma, and I had to make the decision to remove life support that day. Her funeral will not be until this Friday, as we have terrible weather, and she is being buried further up north. When I called in Sunday, my boss was out of town, and had when I offered to come in a few days prior to her funeral to not exceed the five days, she had left me a kind message (knowing I would do so), to not even THINK about being back before the 29th. In total it will be 8 days missed. I work as an emergency response operator, and I have anxiety just thinking about it. There is never a normal situation to me.

I'm sorry for your loss

 

[richmond282]

I'm not exactly sure what the policy is in the school system I work in now, but I do know one of my students said he received a warning letter after 6 unexcused absences this semester. They can and will report truancy to the court system around here.
The last school system I worked in, if a student missed 9 days in a class (block scheduling), they automatically failed that class unless they were on homebound and receiving tutoring. Didn't matter whether they were excused or unexcused. Those kids showed up for school and did not miss for vacations and stuff! There was nothing we as teachers could do to override the failing grades.

 

[aprilchem]

A toast to Zombie threads.

I don't think I have ever heard of a student being held back in our district strictly based on absences. However, there is no makeup work allowed for unexcused absences. So, if you head out to Disney for a week, the teachers are not allowed to give work packets and the student is not allowed to make up any work that was missed while they were gone. Any tests, projects, quizzes or homework that was due while absent will incur a 0. Grades can and will suffer if there are multiple unexcused absence.

Wow - that sounds harsh to me. My kids will often have only 5 or 6 graded assignments in a subject in a nine-weeks grading period, so a zero on one of those would lower their grade a ton - with 5 assignments, if they started out with a 100 their grade would go to an 80 with one zero, which is a C. two zeros would fail them in the course!

 

[bethy]

I don't think you can give that advice to everybody. Every district is different and many districts have very strict absence policies with various punishments for absences.

My sibling's district refers unexcused absences to truancy court after 10 in one semester. My niece had to go to truancy court as a freshman. She is now a senior and still has to have every single absence, whether excused or unexcused, submitted to the judge. Unexcused absences are not allowed at all and having an unexcused absence would invoke jail time for the parent. She was under court supervision for her entire high school career because her parents were of the mindset "my child, my decisions."

You have a point. I am flabbergasted reading some of these stories. I honestly don't think I could live like that! Education is such an integral part of childhood and thus family life that the fit generally needs to be good for the kids and the family. I would have to do something drastic like move, or homeschool or private school. I know it's easier said than done, however.

Gosh am I grateful for my current liberties as a parent!!

 

[Questions.]

So, I am a student.. Im actually freaking out because i have missed 28 days of school in the whole year. The school has called and just said she has had too many absents. Im only in the 5th grade, the school district doesnt specify how many days you can miss.

 

[smiths02]

So, I am a student.. Im actually freaking out because i have missed 28 days of school in the whole year. The school has called and just said she has had too many absents. Im only in the 5th grade, the school district doesnt specify how many days you can miss.

In our district, there is no one deciding factor to hold kids back in a grade. There is a rubric...grades, test scores, absences, age of child, etc. are all considered. If the student has so many points in so many areas, then retention is recommended by the school. In our state, the parents have a say.

 

[gwynne]

So, I am a student.. Im actually freaking out because i have missed 28 days of school in the whole year. The school has called and just said she has had too many absents. Im only in the 5th grade, the school district doesnt specify how many days you can miss.

Welcome to the DIS. When I clicked on your profile, it said you are 16.
Has summer vacation started?

 

[NHdisneylover]

So, I am a student.. Im actually freaking out because i have missed 28 days of school in the whole year. The school has called and just said she has had too many absents. Im only in the 5th grade, the school district doesnt specify how many days you can miss.

If you are geinuinely a fifth grade, you need to make sure your parents get that message and then let them handle it (and are probably too young to be registered here---unless you were already held back a few times)

 

[clori]

Our high school has a policy that if you miss 3 classes in a subject for any reason even with a 100 average you fail for that quarter with a 59. They also say after 7 absences parents get a letter. DD missed 8 days last year in 9th grade. I think 7 were official excused absenses.

2 religious holidays (excused absenses by parent note)
1 day bronchitis (excused by drs note)
3 days strep that wasn't diagnosed with rapid test (excused by drs note)
1 day - missed for my father's surgery he wasn't given much chance of living through and - (school excused it even though it didn't technically meet criteria)
1 day - my father's funeral - a few months after the surgery - (excused by parent note)
also dismissed early the day my father was suddenly put on hospice which was a dismissal though absenses for actual missed classes (unexcused)

Even with 3 days out in a row and more than 7 days we never got a letter nor were any grades marked down. The only class that was an issue was gym. The gym rule was if kids miss more than 2 classes per quarter they drop from a letter grade unless it I made up after school. DD did not want a B in gym so made up a day.

 

[Mizzoufan]

16 days a year

 

[Allison]

So, I am a student.. Im actually freaking out because i have missed 28 days of school in the whole year. The school has called and just said she has had too many absents. Im only in the 5th grade, the school district doesnt specify how many days you can miss.

16 years old and in 5th grade?

 

[aprilgail]

16 years old and in 5th grade?

Must be one of the "red shirted kids" I read about here on the dis- held back for sports.....