DCPS communications about school absences

[Anonymous]

We have received repeated notices from DCPS via text and by mail telling us that our 7th grader has missed three days of school this year. The notes ask us to "reach out if we need support" and to "make a plan to attend every day" and telling us that "attending every day will keep them on track".

These absences were all excused (for doctor's appointments), something that the mail notice from DCPS even specifically acknowledged.

Has anyone else experienced this? Do we need to be worried? I support efforts to help kids attend school and to avoid truancy but contacting parents with kids who have a small number of excused absences seems like overkill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have received repeated notices from DCPS via text and by mail telling us that our 7th grader has missed three days of school this year. The notes ask us to "reach out if we need support" and to "make a plan to attend every day" and telling us that "attending every day will keep them on track".

These absences were all excused (for doctor's appointments), something that the mail notice from DCPS even specifically acknowledged.

Has anyone else experienced this? Do we need to be worried? I support efforts to help kids attend school and to avoid truancy but contacting parents with kids who have a small number of excused absences seems like overkill.

I just posted about the same issue in another thread. Yes, receiving the same plus texts and voicemails. My kid was really sick for a week. We even sent in a doctor’s note. I’m not worried, but as a rule follower, I’m annoyed and feel weirdly guilty. Also there’s a number on my letter to call if you want to stop receiving them. You might search the fine print.

[Anonymous]

It's just part of a general DCPS push to address absences. I got it too, telling me my kid had missed 5 days and also informing me that the average number of days missed by students at our school is 4 (with a handy chart so I know that 5 is more than 4).

We got this last year, too, when we had a lot more than 5 days missed at this point because my kindergartener got hit with RSV and Covid back to back in fall 2022.

In any case, if the absences are excused, you can ignore unless there really is an issue for which you need support in order to get your kid to school. You can check Aspen to see if they are excused, and if there are any listed as unexcused, reach out to the registrar at your school to get it addressed (when this has happened to me, I usually just forward my email from the day of the absence letting them know my kid was sick and let them know it's still showing up as unexcused -- it generally gets addressed same day).

[Anonymous]

OP here -- thanks so much for these helpful responses. It's reassuring to know that we weren't the only ones seeing this.

[Anonymous]

You could reach out and ask how you ensure absences are excused. But otherwise DCPS will not do anything about absences. That is a CYA form letter.

[Anonymous]

We got these notices for excused absences as well. I'd think it's an effort to reach out to families that really need help - unstable family situations, unreliable transportation, homeless kids, truant kids whose parents might not know. Generally not the DCUM crowd

[Anonymous]

Yeah, it’s annoying but you can ignore. We were also told that the absences percentages change as the year goes on. So if your kid misses 5 days in September, that’s going to look really high and trigger a letter. If they have good attendance all tear and then miss 5 days in March, it looks better.

[Anonymous]

I posted on the other thread that this is all-too-common at JR; we even got one on the first day of school when the upper students were told to come for only the 2 later periods. I mean what are these counselors doing all day? How can DCPS care about truancy if they don't even know who is actually in the building and don't bother to look at the written excuses by parents? It shouldn't be for show. This is troubling.

[Anonymous]

It's annoying. We have 3 excused absences and keep getting them too. They should only send for unexcused absences IMO

[Anonymous]

Yes, got one today when DC was on a field trip with the school. It is beyond annoying that they cannot get their records straight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could reach out and ask how you ensure absences are excused. But otherwise DCPS will not do anything about absences. That is a CYA form letter.

It is not CYA. It is an intervention meant to address the truancy issues many posters are noting and complaining about in other threads.

Not every intervention is perfect for every family. This specific texting approach is evidenced based and in low performing schools was shown to boost attendance by a modest amount.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's annoying. We have 3 excused absences and keep getting them too. They should only send for unexcused absences IMO

For learning, it really doesn't matter why the child is out of school.

[Anonymous]

I got these for when my kid was suspended, marked as “unexcused.”

[Anonymous]

I almost posted this same vent this week. The letters are super annoying. I understand they are intended to be interventions, but I wonder if their intention will backfire for some families who will start to send their kids into school semi-sick to avoid the DCPS nasty-grams.

I did notice that on the back (in fine print), it says that you can request to stop the notifications by calling a phone number. I called the phone number but of course you leave a voicemail. So who knows if the letters will stop or not.

[Anonymous]

Yup, second year getting these notices (all for excused absences, well below the 10 day threshold). Seems like DCPS could make better use of their resources by spending more energy on helping/targeting chronically truant kids.