More than 10 un-excused absences

[Anonymous]

Well this is one of those live and learn mistakes. The teacher is not the school attendance officer- just because SHE knows your child won't be there doesn't mean administration does. And she probably assumed you knew that and would provide the school with the absence info. It's not her responsibility to do that for you.

When your child is sick or going on a trip, you need to call it into the office. Your school may not robocall, but you still have to do it. If you can provide proof of illness and travel, they may change some of those to excused but they may not either.

I know someone who is the school attendance officer and big gaps in attendance like this are red flags for the school. Although it's a pain in the butt for you personally, it is actually a very good sign they are pursuing this. It literally can mean the difference between saving a child's life or not if it enables them to uncover abuse or neglect or worse.

[Anonymous]

CFSA may investigate you, but they will probably have your case marked unfounded. Things you need to worry about:

* can everyone in your home pass a drug test?
* does your home have bugs or rodents?
* is there sufficient food in the house?
* is there anyone in your home who'd have trouble passing a background check?

Even if these are the case, they are not likely to remove your child, just keep visiting and giving you services.

Also, do any of the adults in your home have a job where having even an unfounded CFSA allegation could harm them? Teacher, day care worker, etc.? In that case, you're going to want to work hard to keep this from being referred to CFSA in the first place, but the law says it should be so that's probably an uphill battle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should have received a robocall for each absence.

Not OP, but the robocalls I get say my child was out, not whether it was marked as excused or unexcused.

You only get a call if it is unexcused in the system. I learned that after the report card showed 3 unexcused absences when there should have been zero.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Folks are being a little too hard on OP. These truancy policies matter and there are a lot of kids who need protection. But DCPS does a lousy job of explaining attendance policies, as well as proper reporting procedures (or at least at my inbound). And they shouldn't be wasting resources going after families that value education, especially if there's zero reason to expect the kid is being mistreated.

Strong policies that allow for some judgment is the way to go.

There was a case a few years back involving a single-parent who took her child overseas with her to adopt another child, and the school launched an investigation into her whic, if I recall, almost interfered with the adoption.

All violators of the attendance policy should be treated the same. How is one to prove that someone "values education" or conversely, that someone doesn't?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a first grade teacher I have to say: missing a week and a half of school for a trip is unfair to your child, your child's teacher and the other students in the class. I have never had any of my families do this.

Doesn't it depend on what the child is doing during that week and a half? How about if she's accompanying a mom competing in the Olympic Games to the venue? Or taking a chance to accompany a dad who's going to conferences in two East Asian countries with a tutor in tow for the child? Or competing in international violin concerts in Australia and New Zealand? What's unfair to families is assuming that every week and a half spent in public school is far more enriching than every week and a half missed. Hardly a safe assumption in a city with fast-changing demographics.

I missed two months of second grade in public school to accompany my father on a sabbatical to Europe, where we visited a dozen countries (and countless museums, cathedrals, palaces etc.). As an adult, I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't have earned a PhD in international relations if I hadn't been taken on that particular trip. My 2nd grade teacher strongly encouraged my dad to take me, as did the school's principal. Thank goodness.

[Anonymous]

There was the girl at Deal a few years ago who was a child prodigy for some musical instrument and she needed to withdraw b/c she missed too many days of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was the girl at Deal a few years ago who was a child prodigy for some musical instrument and she needed to withdraw b/c she missed too many days of school.

Link
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/in-dc-a-12-year-old-piano-prodigy-is-treated-as-a-truant-instead-of-a-star-student/2014/09/08/58962746-3727-11e4-bdfb-de4104544a37_story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a first grade teacher I have to say: missing a week and a half of school for a trip is unfair to your child, your child's teacher and the other students in the class. I have never had any of my families do this.

Doesn't it depend on what the child is doing during that week and a half? How about if she's accompanying a mom competing in the Olympic Games to the venue? Or taking a chance to accompany a dad who's going to conferences in two East Asian countries with a tutor in tow for the child? Or competing in international violin concerts in Australia and New Zealand? What's unfair to families is assuming that every week and a half spent in public school is far more enriching than every week and a half missed. Hardly a safe assumption in a city with fast-changing demographics.

I missed two months of second grade in public school to accompany my father on a sabbatical to Europe, where we visited a dozen countries (and countless museums, cathedrals, palaces etc.). As an adult, I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't have earned a PhD in international relations if I hadn't been taken on that particular trip. My 2nd grade teacher strongly encouraged my dad to take me, as did the school's principal. Thank goodness.

And you could still do it these days - you just need to be officially home schooling then.

[Anonymous]

Attendance, particularly unexcused absences, are one of the metrics used to evaluate DCPS principals and is available for each school on the DCPS website. Chronic truancy is a major issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks are being a little too hard on OP. These truancy policies matter and there are a lot of kids who need protection. But DCPS does a lousy job of explaining attendance policies, as well as proper reporting procedures (or at least at my inbound). And they shouldn't be wasting resources going after families that value education, especially if there's zero reason to expect the kid is being mistreated.

Strong policies that allow for some judgment is the way to go.

There was a case a few years back involving a single-parent who took her child overseas with her to adopt another child, and the school launched an investigation into her whic, if I recall, almost interfered with the adoption.

All violators of the attendance policy should be treated the same. How is one to prove that someone "values education" or conversely, that someone doesn't?

This is exactly the subjective, lax enforcement of rules and laws that let kids fall through the cracks every.single.day. Nobody knows if you "value education" or your kid has bruises and is being kept home so nobody finds out. Seriously, remove head from butt.

[Anonymous]

I used to teach in a suburban public school system where there was a straightforward and transparent process for applying to have days excused for reasons other than illness. For example, if a parent wanted to take the student on an international trip that would conflict with more than several days of semester time, a short-term home school curriculum had to be worked out with a teacher and admins well in advance. The curriculum would involve doing homework to keep up with the class, trip journal keeping to a certain standard, the expectation of a well prepared child-led presentation to the class upon return etc. What DCPS does is employ an absurd one-size-fits-all absence policy for political reasons, rather than seeking to harness enriching travel opportunities as teaching tools. Myopic and pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Next time just withdraw your child before the vacation and say you are homeschooling and then reenroll him/her when you return.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Next time just withdraw your child before the vacation and say you are homeschooling and then reenroll him/her when you return.

Of course this only works if you attend your IB. But it is the cleanest way to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Next time just withdraw your child before the vacation and say you are homeschooling and then reenroll him/her when you return.

Of course this only works if you attend your IB. But it is the cleanest way to do it.

Presumably, even a non-IB school would be able to reenroll your child if you have approval from the teacher and principal, no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Next time just withdraw your child before the vacation and say you are homeschooling and then reenroll him/her when you return.

Of course this only works if you attend your IB. But it is the cleanest way to do it.

Presumably, even a non-IB school would be able to reenroll your child if you have approval from the teacher and principal, no?

No - if you withdraw to homeschool that goes to OSSE and you will need to reapply to enroll. Basically back to the OOB/charter lottery -- or start attending your IB school.

So this only really works if you are going to be gone for an extended period of time (whatever that means to you).