What Should I Do? (HighSchool Related)

[Wish Upon A Star]

Yesterday I received a phone call from DD's highschool saying she was marked "absent" for 2nd period (Drama Class). Being the nervous compulsive/obsessive parent that I am I knew that my DD wouldn't of "cut" a class, especially Drama. So I asked to leave a message for the teacher to find out if maybe it was in error she was marked absent. He never got back to me. I even emailed him after I found out that DD was indeed in class because she gave me all info on what took place in Drama Class. He didn't respond to the email either.

Soooo should I just assume he received the info from me and will fix the attendance or should I continue to "harass" this poor guy until I get him personally? I just don't want this to look like a "cut" on her attendance because she was marked "present" for her other classes. Apparently, the person who sits next to her was absent and he takes attendance by just looking at faces, not calling out names . . .

Any advice??

 

[sap1227]

I would continue to follow-up (bother ) the teacher. I know when I was in High School, if you missed more than 5 days you would fail the class. It would be awful if she had to miss a couple of days later on and came close to the cut off number because of a day she was really there.

Christy

 

[powellrj]

I agree, you need to make sure that you speak with the teacher, I learned the hard way never assume anything!

 

[Tiggerkeeper]

Does the school have an attendance office? This same thing happened to DS, more than once, he even took a test one day he was reported absent from a class. We finally went to the attendance records person and she filled out the appropriate form to request the teacher look into the matter and sure enough DS was present on days in question and the records were changed. He was being counted being counted absent instead of someone else!

By all means stay on top of it!

 

[MerryPoppins]

The same thing has happened to my DS more than once. I've always checked back with the attendance person in the office. She has given DS a paper to have the teacher sign to straighten it out each time.

 

[damo]

I would ask my daughter to ask the teacher if he received my message. I tend to let my kids deal with their own problems now that they are in high school (they are very responsible). It all depends on your child and how trustworthy they are.

 

[believe]

Follow-up....I was marked absent in 7th grade, when I truly was in school. I didn't find out till the end of the quarter and they would not fix the absence.

 

[jsmith]

I have this happen frequently- our last name is Smith so there are alway two in the class, coaches forget to put names on the excused list for athletes, teachers send students on errands and then get distracted and mark them absent-and sometimes the kid is actually late and arrives after the attendance for that period is turned in. I suggest you talk to the student before you call the teacher then have the student go and speak to the teacher-something along the lines of "Mr. Jones my mother got a call from attendance yesterday that says I was absent but I was in class-I can show you my notes" If the teacher made an honest mistake they will correct it-if there continues to be a problem you may need to follow up but if you "harrass" him you will both look silly-her like a young adult who can't solve her own problems and you like an over protective parent who always assumes that the teacher is out to get her kid-which is likely not the truth.

 

[FreshTressa]

Never assume anything! It is irresponsible of him not to get back with you!

 

[CourtasanSatine]

I had that happen once in HS,I share my last name with another person(no relation) and he was absent for a golf team thing which got me marked absent.But I got it fixed

 

[FOJMO]

Originally posted by damo
I would ask my daughter to ask the teacher if he received my message. I tend to let my kids deal with their own problems now that they are in high school (they are very responsible). It all depends on your child and how trustworthy they are.

I would tend to agree about the kids dealing with their own situations, but since you already placed the phone calls/emails, I would follow up without putting your DD in the middle by questioning if the teacher received your messages. Would be different if it was your DD who left the messages.

Also, I wouldn't have called/emailed the teacher directly -- I would have gone through the office, as Tiggerkeeper suggested. That's really where you need to be directing the attendance questions. If they need to check with the teacher, they will do so. Good luck getting it straightened out.