Middle school does not take attendance

[aprilgail2]

Day's absent was zero, when she was out for 2 days. The school system in this town is poor, and I think they just say everyone is there to get the funding.

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We were away this year for a long weekend and my daughter was not marked absent on those days- yet she was marked absent 17 times in one class! When I saw that I called the school and found out its the day she misses that one class each week to take an honors lab course-but just by looking at the 17 days out of that one class I was like "what the heck"!

I work in a middle school and trust me we are concerned about attendance. We have an attendance secretary who tracks kids and parents down to verify when they are out of school. I find it staggering how irresponsible so many parents are. How hard is it? If the child is staying home sick, you call the attendance line and leave a message.

School funding is determined by attendance and we have to report to the county when a certain level of absenteeism is reached. Our school serves two counties so it can be a real mess. One county has stricter standards than the other so we have to establish which county each student lives in. Makes me very glad that I don't have her job!

In grade school we never had to send in notes when they were absent-now she went to Jr. High and they always want a note- I can't tell you how many times my daughter had detention because I forgot about writing a note to send with her! Now she writes the notes herself and just brings them to me to sign because I always forget! In grade school you called in the morning and told them- that is good enough, why should I send a note when I just told you on the phone she was going to be out.

One time my daughter was in 2nd grade and the school called me asking why my daughter was not in school- now I saw her get on the bus in the morning so a million things start running through my head "omg the bus driver did something to her" "someone snatched her before she got into the school"-- they heard me starting to freak out and told me to hold on they would run down to the classroom and check if she was there and she was! Damn near gave me a heart attack!

 

[spacemountainmom]

The pp's post about them "missing" her daughter is exactly why we spend so much time each day tracking down kids before a call goes home. Our schools use a phone system that is auto-attended so you don't even have to wait for the secretary to be there. My kid is up sick at 5:30am, I call right then and notify the school. We do not have to send notes in as well. I've never had an issue with attendance at the middle school, they are awesome at keeping track, but it does take a good deal of effort.

My dd's high school is horrible. DD was once sent home by the nurse mid-day. I received an automated call that she'd missed her last three classes. DUH! You sent her home! I had to call them and straighten that out. She also missed a couple classes to take a graduation standards test and they marked her absent. I had to call them and fix that too. It seems like there aren't any checks and balances in their system.

We had a mess in grade school too. My sister got married out of state so we pulled dd out of school for a Thurs, Fri and Monday. We sent a note to her teacher ahead of time and got her homework. The teacher apparently forgot to notify the office. We arrived home Monday evening to three messages from the school regarding her attendance. Each message was increasingly nasty and threatening. I called school and explained that I HAD sent a note to the teacher. They did check it out and her teacher had forgotten to pass the information on to the office. I was rather annoyed, but I realize that need to account for the kids. I just wish the office had spoken to the teacher before leaving me nasty messages.

All this makes be appreciate the work our attendance secretary does to make sure she is not calling any parents mistakenly.

 

[HelenePA]

I'm not sure in what state you live, but I've taught in several states, and none of them required schools to call parents in the event of a student's absence.

Many states require that schools keep a record of why a student was absent, but that can be accomplished by the parent calling the school or sending in a note with their child when he/she returns to school.

This concept of schools "needing" to call parents is a relatively new concept and, IMO, a result of helicopter parenting and a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Nothing new about it here, its been done before I was in school. I started in '83.

 

[aprilgail2]

My dd's high school is horrible. DD was once sent home by the nurse mid-day. I received an automated call that she'd missed her last three classes. DUH! You sent her home! I had to call them and straighten that out. .

That reminds me of last year- the school nurse calls me and says my daughter has a fever and is vomiting and to come get her. I go pick her up and it was the night of the winter concert-obviously since my daughter was sent home from school she could not go (that is THEIR rule, if you are not in school or go home sick you can not participate in an after school activity). Anyway the chorus teacher tells my daughter because she wasn't there she loses 10 points off her final average. My daughter is freaking out because she gets a 98/99 final overall average every time on her report cards 10 points would cost her big time!
I went to the school and talked to the chorus teacher who said "sorry thats the rule" I told her that the school sent her home and she said they couldn't bend the rule on not attending! Grrrr....so I went to the office to talk to the principal who agreed with me, they sent her home so she couldn't go and she should not lose any points! She ended up with a 100! I can see kids faking it to get out of going but my daughter loves chorus and was excited about the concert, even bought new clothes to wear! You can't fake vomiting and a fever in the middle of school!!

 

[Feralpeg]

Even private schools need to take attendance. They have to send a certification to the state each year that the students attended at least 180 days of school.

 

[aprilgail2]

Even private schools need to take attendance. They have to send a certification to the state each year that the students attended at least 180 days of school.

There are only 180 days OF school- how do the expect every kid to not miss a day of school????

 

[Coconut36]

There are only 180 days OF school- how do the expect every kid to not miss a day of school????

Number of days can vary from district to district and state to state. There is a minimum usually set (here it is 180 days) however districts can have a longer calender..my Mom's district calendar was/is longer than my DH district calendar by a couple days.

Of course schools really do prefer that kids not miss any time at all and absences are recorded and sent to the Truancy office (here it is a part of the Juvenile court system called CUTS) to track how often a child is missing from school and legal action can be taken if they exceed the guidelines for absences.

 

[Feralpeg]

There are only 180 days OF school- how do the expect every kid to not miss a day of school????

Sorry. Let me clarify. They must have either attended 180 days of school or have valid excused absence.

The point being, the state expects the private schools to do their best to meet the 180 days of school standard.