Absenteeism-reduction measures at Dranesville ES feel like misplaced student pressure

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m in a similar school and am very upset about it. It resulted in vomiting kids coming to school when they were pressured to come. My kids got sick over and over. And then we missed even more school. After 10 days the principal made us meet with him. Missing just 2 days a month gets you to 18 days absent.

The principal straight up told me to send my kids to school when they were sick and I could pick them up at 10am after count is over.

That's disgusting. So sorry.

[Anonymous]

I’m a teacher last week I got Covid from a student who was sent with a runny nose. I got a fever and was miserable and missed 2 days of school. Then my assistant got it- 3 days off with a fever. Yesterday the teacher next door to me got it and will miss at least 2 days.
So now of course we don’t have subs and a few short weeks into the school year, we are all exhausted and splitting classes.
So FCPS touting send kids to school with fever free symptoms is going to run their workforce into the ground and it is already running on fumes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A kid is considered chronically absent if they miss 15 days of school— excused and unexcused absences count towards the 15 days. The percentage of chronically absent students plays into school accreditation. That’s the real reason why FCPS cares.

It's 18 days or 10% of the school year. That's only two days per month.

Only?!

In my case it was a full week of diarrhea, vomiting and malaise. So that’s 5 days and that happened twice. Then a couple other days including strep throat and pink eye.

Maybe they need to be disinfecting the schools? My daycare kids aren’t sick as much.

Your daycare probably doesn't have 500-1000 kids touching the same surfaces repeatedly throughout the day.

Your daycare probably doesn't have a minimum of 50-100 kids per day who are sneezing and coughing and whose parents never taught them to cover their mouths.

Your daycare probably doesn't have 200+ kids use the bathroom, not wash their hands, and then touch surfaces or shared supplies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the school nurse there (a health department employee) has been consulted on any of these measures. Doubtful.

FCPS has pretty clearly said attendance policies for illness are back to pre-pandemic. The fact that some people on DCUM cannot get used to that idea doesn't change it.

Precovid kids still aren’t supposed to come to school when sick, and some children are going to miss due to chronic illness or other issues. Here are all the current reasons your child should stay home: severe coughing, pink eye, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, rash/fever, strep.

Agree this is misplaced. My children have had low level gunk since the beginning of September and we haven’t missed a day, but we would if we had any of the above symptoms.

Disagree. Yes, kids get sick and should stay home and yes, kids are getting sick more and for longer after covid.

But the big problem is parents who have decided that school is optional and have passed that idea on to their kids. It's not a low SES idea either, it's across all SES. It's all over this forum, everywhere. And it harms kids to miss school.

There is data showing that it hurts struggling children, but is there data showing that it hurts high achievers? My kid is in middle school and we're fine with them sleeping in on occasion or leaving early. They do great in school, sit down with khan academy when they don't get a concept in math, read a ton

No, at least not at the secondary level.

That's what you're telling yourself...

Please cite the evidence that it harms high achieving children at the secondary level, then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher last week I got Covid from a student who was sent with a runny nose. I got a fever and was miserable and missed 2 days of school. Then my assistant got it- 3 days off with a fever. Yesterday the teacher next door to me got it and will miss at least 2 days.
So now of course we don’t have subs and a few short weeks into the school year, we are all exhausted and splitting classes.
So FCPS touting send kids to school with fever free symptoms is going to run their workforce into the ground and it is already running on fumes.

I am not keeping my child home every time he has a runny nose. He has seasonal allergies that start as seasons change and last about a month. He has had them since he was a baby. We were so happy when we could give him toddler allergy medicine because the cough, from post nasal drip, and runny nose finally cleared up for long periods of time. It is the same now and he is 12.

I am not buying a ton of COVID testing kits to check every day if this is a cold or allergies because that would be cost prohibitive. He has a runny nose for almost 6 weeks straight when the seasons change. If you want to pay for 42 COVID tests please let me know. It sucks but that is what it is. I am sure that the runny nose is sometimes a cold and maybe even COVID. If he is lethargic or coughing a bunch or complains of a headache to go with his sniffles, I will keep him home.

I promise I keep him home if he has a fever, stomach ache, vomit, diarrhea or he tells us that he is feeling off. He is not a kid who skivs off school so we trust him when he says something feels off. It has always turned into one of the above listed issues so we are ok with his staying home.

Schools would go ape if parents kept their kid home for every runny nose because of the number of days that they would miss.

I do think it is irresponsible to send a kid with a fever, stomach issues, or diarrhea and I know parents do that. I don’t think sending kids to school with runny noses or an occasional cough is out of place or wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the school nurse there (a health department employee) has been consulted on any of these measures. Doubtful.

FCPS has pretty clearly said attendance policies for illness are back to pre-pandemic. The fact that some people on DCUM cannot get used to that idea doesn't change it.

Precovid kids still aren’t supposed to come to school when sick, and some children are going to miss due to chronic illness or other issues. Here are all the current reasons your child should stay home: severe coughing, pink eye, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, rash/fever, strep.

Agree this is misplaced. My children have had low level gunk since the beginning of September and we haven’t missed a day, but we would if we had any of the above symptoms.

Disagree. Yes, kids get sick and should stay home and yes, kids are getting sick more and for longer after covid.

But the big problem is parents who have decided that school is optional and have passed that idea on to their kids. It's not a low SES idea either, it's across all SES. It's all over this forum, everywhere. And it harms kids to miss school.

There is data showing that it hurts struggling children, but is there data showing that it hurts high achievers? My kid is in middle school and we're fine with them sleeping in on occasion or leaving early. They do great in school, sit down with khan academy when they don't get a concept in math, read a ton

No, at least not at the secondary level.

That's what you're telling yourself...

Please cite the evidence that it harms high achieving children at the secondary level, then.

It is going to be something that is going to harm your school now that the VDOE has decided that it is a grading factor for a schools health, or how ever they are referring to it, and you can bet that schools are going to be paying more attention to it. I know parents at Dranesville whose kids were pulled at least 3 times in a year for family vacations, I saw the pictures on their FB page. You see people posting asking about how to log in to schoology while abroad and how many days kids can miss school in a row before they are dis-enrolled. I would bet that a solid percentage of the kids considered to have high absentee rates are kids whose parents decided to take January off and visit family or go to Disney multiple times in a year.

Do those trips hurt the kids? Probably not because the parents tend to make sure their kids complete what work they can. Do those trips end up creating extra work for Teachers, who are already overly tasked? Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher last week I got Covid from a student who was sent with a runny nose. I got a fever and was miserable and missed 2 days of school. Then my assistant got it- 3 days off with a fever. Yesterday the teacher next door to me got it and will miss at least 2 days.
So now of course we don’t have subs and a few short weeks into the school year, we are all exhausted and splitting classes.
So FCPS touting send kids to school with fever free symptoms is going to run their workforce into the ground and it is already running on fumes.

I am a parent and I support you. The principals need to listen to the teachers (and common sense). It's so short-sighted to pressure sick kids to attend school, because then everyone starts getting sick, and the next thing is, schools will shut down because all the staff are sick.

Are the administrators getting bonuses for increasing attendance? Why aren't any of them standing up and saying, "we want all kids to attend every day, but we also know as professional educators that pushing sick kids to attend school will ultimately lead to even more absenteeism and disrupt learning."

[Anonymous]

Whomever created this program is an idiot. I thought we all realized a long time ago that perfect attendance awards were pointless and caused shame and incentives people to attend while sick and punished kids with chronic illness?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can see how if you are from a foreign country, and it costs a lot to travel overseas, you'd want to get your money's worth and go for like a month so that your kids can be immersed in the culture and language, and spend time with relatives they rarely get to see. That seems reasonable and like it would also be educational and contribute to social-emotional learning!

We have this happen every year. Kids who miss a month or more and are very behind when they come back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher last week I got Covid from a student who was sent with a runny nose. I got a fever and was miserable and missed 2 days of school. Then my assistant got it- 3 days off with a fever. Yesterday the teacher next door to me got it and will miss at least 2 days.
So now of course we don’t have subs and a few short weeks into the school year, we are all exhausted and splitting classes.
So FCPS touting send kids to school with fever free symptoms is going to run their workforce into the ground and it is already running on fumes.

I am a parent and I support you. The principals need to listen to the teachers (and common sense). It's so short-sighted to pressure sick kids to attend school, because then everyone starts getting sick, and the next thing is, schools will shut down because all the staff are sick.

Are the administrators getting bonuses for increasing attendance? Why aren't any of them standing up and saying, "we want all kids to attend every day, but we also know as professional educators that pushing sick kids to attend school will ultimately lead to even more absenteeism and disrupt learning."

DP, ES teacher
I don’t expect a student to stay home with a runny nose, nor do I think they should. If the child is sick, of course they shouldn’t be in school, but it’s really not necessary to stay home due to minor cold and allergy symptoms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our country needs to stop bending over backwards begging families to send their kids to free schools. If they are absent for no real reason (like most of my students), they should unenroll them. In order to return to school, parents need to actually come to school to talk to admin and teachers about the expectations. The vast majority of students at my school scoring below grade level on assessments year after year are chronically absent.

+100. Just make real consequences for this behavior that impact parents and the nonsense will stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher last week I got Covid from a student who was sent with a runny nose. I got a fever and was miserable and missed 2 days of school. Then my assistant got it- 3 days off with a fever. Yesterday the teacher next door to me got it and will miss at least 2 days.
So now of course we don’t have subs and a few short weeks into the school year, we are all exhausted and splitting classes.
So FCPS touting send kids to school with fever free symptoms is going to run their workforce into the ground and it is already running on fumes.

What did you do in 2019? I remember DD's 2nd grade teacher and the entire rest of the teaching team had something similar (although I think DD's teacher caught the original illness from her own kid, not the kids in class). I mean...it's not like these are new issues that only apply to Covid? A couple years ago I got the flu before my flu shot had taken effect. It was awful. But it's also life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher last week I got Covid from a student who was sent with a runny nose. I got a fever and was miserable and missed 2 days of school. Then my assistant got it- 3 days off with a fever. Yesterday the teacher next door to me got it and will miss at least 2 days.
So now of course we don’t have subs and a few short weeks into the school year, we are all exhausted and splitting classes.
So FCPS touting send kids to school with fever free symptoms is going to run their workforce into the ground and it is already running on fumes.

I am not keeping my child home every time he has a runny nose. He has seasonal allergies that start as seasons change and last about a month. He has had them since he was a baby. We were so happy when we could give him toddler allergy medicine because the cough, from post nasal drip, and runny nose finally cleared up for long periods of time. It is the same now and he is 12.

I am not buying a ton of COVID testing kits to check every day if this is a cold or allergies because that would be cost prohibitive. He has a runny nose for almost 6 weeks straight when the seasons change. If you want to pay for 42 COVID tests please let me know. It sucks but that is what it is. I am sure that the runny nose is sometimes a cold and maybe even COVID. If he is lethargic or coughing a bunch or complains of a headache to go with his sniffles, I will keep him home.

I promise I keep him home if he has a fever, stomach ache, vomit, diarrhea or he tells us that he is feeling off. He is not a kid who skivs off school so we trust him when he says something feels off. It has always turned into one of the above listed issues so we are ok with his staying home.

Schools would go ape if parents kept their kid home for every runny nose because of the number of days that they would miss.

I do think it is irresponsible to send a kid with a fever, stomach issues, or diarrhea and I know parents do that. I don’t think sending kids to school with runny noses or an occasional cough is out of place or wrong.

+1. The germaphobes who now think the world revolves around them are just going to have to learn that Covid changed nothing. The rules were the way they were for good reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our country needs to stop bending over backwards begging families to send their kids to free schools. If they are absent for no real reason (like most of my students), they should unenroll them. In order to return to school, parents need to actually come to school to talk to admin and teachers about the expectations. The vast majority of students at my school scoring below grade level on assessments year after year are chronically absent.

+100. Just make real consequences for this behavior that impact parents and the nonsense will stop.

There are not enough officials to follow up on truancy issues and there is a reluctance to take those parents to court because the cases that most people are worried about, the poor families and the minority communities that tend to be behind academically, are families were they cannot afford to have a parent go to jail or miss work to make sure a kid goes to school. The parents who could be affected by legal actions have the money to fight charges and are more likely the families that take long vacations. And the families that really want to take that month trip to the homeland in January know that they can disenroll their child and then re-enroll their child when they come back. The AP/IB classes that the kid was in will still have that spot if the parents disenroll them in December or January so there is no real risk.

This means any consequences for enforcing attendance problems will end up impacting lower income families and families of kids who are probably already behind. Not to mention cost a hefty amount to the tax payer to enforce. Realistically speaking, Counties and States moved away from legal penalties because it simply wasn't working. It might impact the middle class families pulling their kids to go to Disney and on a cruise but it is not going to impact the chronically absent or who trvel for long periods of time.

[Anonymous]

It would be nice if the perfect attendance celebrations took into acount whether you missed a day or 2 for being sick vs taking a vacation. If parents are honest when they fill out the form the school readily has that information. Unless there is any push to have remote options for kids that are "sick" parents will have to choose when to send and when to keep their kids home.