All written excuses shall be retained for the remainder of the school year in the Principal's office or other approved location. All student absences shall be designated as either excused or unexcused. In accordance with Alabama law, a student shall be excused for an absence from school for any ONE of the following reasons:. Absence for reasons other than those defined above shall be considered as unexcused. In such instances, any student seventeen 17 years of age or older may be enrolled and is eligible for educational services until age of twenty-one Stuents who are away from school because of participation in official school sponsored activities shall be marked present and allowed to make up missed work.
Students who are absent from school for an excused or unexcused reason shall not be allowed to partcipate in any school extracurricular or co-curricular activities that day athletic contests, cheerleading, band, scholars' bowl, beauty walk, prom, etc. Truancy is the habitual and unlawful absence from school. Once the plan is implemented, if the student continues to have unexcused absences, the student is referred for EWTPP.
Any child may be excused for temporary absence resulting from personal illness, death in the family, quarantine, weather or road conditions making travel dangerous, religious holidays, or any unusual cause acceptable to the principal of the school in which the child is enrolled or the superintendent. Any extended absences should be discussed with the principal in advance, if possible. Parents should send a written excuse to the school upon the student's return. A written note of excuse will be considered only if it is given to the school within three school days after the student returns.
More time could be given in unusual circumstances. School officials are empowered to investigate any request for excused absences. It is not easy to define "excused" or "unexcused" absences in such a way that it will fit all situations. A student who is ill or has been to the doctor is unquestionably excused. One who is truant is unquestionably unexcused. The principal must use good judgment and should be guided by "to what degree was the choice factored?
To have so many districts with an average of more than 10 absences is disconcerting, but the following year shows progress. Could be in the way data was reported. Could be they changed the way data was reported in the following years. Hard to tell at this point. The conversation at the state level, and the strong push for districts to share information on Attendance Awareness Month this past September indicates it is on the mind of state-level officials.
If school officials were willing to collect, report, and share the data with their school communities, we could determine whether attendance issues are a problem in our schools. If the data indicates a problem, there are many ways schools and communities can partner to improve attendance rates. These resources, from GradNation , are a great place to start. Nearly all of them have been asked by the Ohio Department of Education to voluntarily turn in their state licenses, according to this report.
While the investigation has concluded, the court proceedings continue. We must be responsible in reporting and interpreting and utilizing the data.
Using data as a flashlight, not a hammer , will encourage more responsible data collection and use to improve the climate and culture of our public schools. While I have attempted to share data through the Alabama School Connection, all of the pieces really need to be housed in one place in order for folks to know where to go when they are looking for it.
Accurate attendance data, reflecting total excused, total unexcused, and number of students chronically absent, by school, would be Data Point 1. PDFs were converted into Excel spreadsheets using Tabula , a awesome and free! Interesting data. One thing is missing through-in excused tardiness.
Parents know how to work the system, knowing that in excused tardys, especially in grades 1throgh 4 mean nothing without legislative authority to back it up. Therefore the number of missed hours is far greater than 49 million. Terms of Use Privacy Policy. Support Us Tales from the Meeting.
But only for a moment. Posted On Nov 28 By : Trisha Powell Crain. Comments: 2.
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