Calling parents of absent kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always email my son's teacher in the morning when I know he is too sick to come to school. I doubt most public elementary schools call home. I went to a private HS and if you didn't call in sick by a certain time, the nurse would call home. I remember taking a few "Mental Health" holidays in HS and being ticked off by the nurse calling and waking me up. She was ticked off that I had made the choice to stay home when my mother was at work. I was like, "Hello. I am 17 yrs old and I can decide for myself if I am too sick to come to school."

Apparently not, considering you stayed home for a "mental health" holiday. Otherwise known as "I don't want to go to school today, so I'm cutting."

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP who said MCPS doesn't call. We are now at our second MCPS elementary and neither have called about an absence, ever. Even stranger: on my son's report card yesterday, his absences were underreported significantly (he had a major medical event, so was out for a stretch.) I love my son's teachers and I'm not a public-school basher, but this level of disinterest in attendance monitoring/record-keeping seems problematic.

[Anonymous]

We do our best to call/email before school starts but the few times that wasn't feasible our MCPS ES did not call. From what friends say, MCPS middle and high schools do call.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always email my son's teacher in the morning when I know he is too sick to come to school. I doubt most public elementary schools call home. I went to a private HS and if you didn't call in sick by a certain time, the nurse would call home. I remember taking a few "Mental Health" holidays in HS and being ticked off by the nurse calling and waking me up. She was ticked off that I had made the choice to stay home when my mother was at work. I was like, "Hello. I am 17 yrs old and I can decide for myself if I am too sick to come to school."

I love my son's teachers and I'm not a public-school basher, but this level of disinterest in attendance monitoring/record-keeping seems problematic

Let's not generalize about all public schools. I think it's school specific policies rather than a public vs. private school issue. My son's public ES calls first thing in the morning if he's not in class - real person and they call until they actually speak to DH or me directly (no leaving messages). I've heard other public ES do this as well.

[Anonymous]

PP- Who calls from the school? I can't imagine who has the time to call every the parents of every kid who doesn't come to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP- Who calls from the school? I can't imagine who has the time to call every the parents of every kid who doesn't come to school.

For our high school, it's some or of automatic call.

[Anonymous]

2 FCPS elementary schools- our previous one did not call and I found it weird. Our current one does, it's not a robocall though, it's the registrar.

[Anonymous]

Our DCPS pre k calls, I think. I always email the teacher though.

[Anonymous]

Why do you guys email the teacher? Isn't it obvious your child is absent if he isn't in class?

If I know ahead of time my child will be out, I let the teacher know. But if it is a sick day, I just send in the absence excuse the day he returns.

[Anonymous]

We moved from the west coast to DC - there our school called right away if I didn't remember to let them know - it was typically the front desk. Here our school doesn't call or even seem to take notice if I don't remember to let them know - yuck.

[Anonymous]

Langley High School (FCPS) ALWAYS robocalls in the evening if your kid so much as misses the first few minutes of first period. Very helpful but we find we spend more time calling back to a live person to straighten out why the teacher didn't see our kid (bathroom? library?) than worried about truancy. But it is a very efficient system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you guys email the teacher? Isn't it obvious your child is absent if he isn't in class?

If I know ahead of time my child will be out, I let the teacher know. But if it is a sick day, I just send in the absence excuse the day he returns.

You should notify the school the morning of so that they are not concerned about your child and don't put a lot of time into trying to reach you. If no one notifies the school in the morning, it becomes too much work to call parents when kids are unexpectedly absent.

[Anonymous]

Is that when it just becomes acceptable not to call at all? I totally agree with the situations stated on page 1 that could be prevented by a prompt call.

[Anonymous]

The attendance secretary at my school calls every absent kid unless she has gotten an email or message forwarded from the teacher. Last year at a different MCPS school the attendance secretary didnt call.

[Anonymous]

My child's public school doesn't call. Also, I don't have to send her in with a note if she's missed a day and is coming back.