A Is For Attendance

May 21

Attendance really does make a difference in how well your child will does in school. The more they are present the better. Two things you should know about your child being absent from school.

First, check with your school office on how they like to handle knowing when and why your child will be absent. Some schools like for you to send a note the next day with the excuse or reason for the absence. Other school districts have policies which include calling a parent on the day of the absence before a certain time in the day to check on your child. The state I teach in does this. The policy was put in place so the school and parents could touch base and make sure your child wasn’t harmed on the way to school. As a parent I really appreciated this policy. A lot of children walk to school each morning while their parents are off to work. These phone calls made sure everyone knew where my children were supposed to be. If your school district has a policy similar to this, you will need to find out if they want you to call them on the days your child is absent or wait for them to call you.

Secondly, most school district now have policies on what type of absence is excused or unexcused. Of course being sick is always an excusable absence, but many other reasons for being gone, such as family vacations, are no longer excused. The main reason you will want to check into this policy, is most school districts now only allow so many unexcused absences before they will be contacting you to come meet with them. If you have a reason your child will be missing a lot of school days, please go in and talk to your school office. They are there to help you.

Remember, these policies were put in place to help you and they will more than likely not be an issue for you. But it is always wise to have the knowledge of what is expected when dealing with absences beforehand rather than after the fact.

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