Who leaked the MCPS attendance documents to the Washington Post?

[Anonymous]

Get a lawyer and a cosa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a child who has been severely bullied at school and social media that has caused a mental health crisis. We have reported the bullying but the school administrators are not doing anything to improve the situation. What we have been told to do is to submit a note saying that my child is out for medical reasons.

Out of concern for the missed instruction, we asked for home instruction because of the number of days missed. He was denied. It's ludicrous that he watches YouTube and Kahn Academy to learn the material and can get As and Bs when he has been absent 25% of the semester. He does better than some kids who attend class regularly because the online resources are better than the teachers in the classroom.

Why do you think IIS (formerly HHT) will be better? It’s not a private tutor. Often the lessons are simplified versions of what the classroom teacher does. And the scope of content is always less. In addition, only the 4 core academic subjects are taught (unless the child is in high school health as a senior).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure there is an issue but I also know that my kids often have unexcused absences that were entered wrong that no one bothers to correct. Sometimes we do not even know till we get the report card. Or we get an email and it is a field trip or sports.

Don't make excuses.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/can-you-skip-47-days-of-english-class-and-still-graduate-from-high-school/2019/05/25/be3318ca-1b84-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?utm_term=.a076946cf709

This has been going on for a LONG time. Someone had the balls to bring it to the surface.

This is how it works:

In Montgomery, educators in a string of high schools have told The Post that attendance practices are lax, vague or inconsistent. Some say they feel pressured to give makeup work, extend deadlines, excuse assignments or find other ways to help repeatedly absent students pass — and that the problem is not just a matter of seniors’ losing interest as their high school days wind down.

So yes, a kid can miss instruction but teachers are FORCED to re-teach/re-assess, which pulls the responsibility away from the kid. And how much learning can be done through "tutoring?" Do you really think that Jo Jo, who's absent 3/5 days each week, is learning? even WITH "re-teaching?"

absolutely disgusting!

This is also an issue in elementary schools. I have had students who miss 30 plus days of school. The PPW sends letters and very rarely does the parent have to attend a truancy hearing. One of the biggest issues we face is with kids whom we suspect have a learning disability not being able to move past the EMT process because the attendance rate is an issue. We’ve made calls to CPS because it can be considered neglect but still nothing happens. Then we have to answer as to why the student is below grade level, and like every other logical reason it’s considered to be an excuse by admin.

This is a YOU problem not a parent problem. What I mean is that if the school is out of legal compliance if they are requiring students to have fewer than 5 unexcused absences in order to receive an IEP. That is not anywhere in the law. Your school is causing the problem by creating a process with an illegal requirement. There are many many reasons why kids don't attend school. My DC had a mental health issue and missed 50% of some classes in HS. DC still graduated and went to an Ivy League school because we insisted the 504 team accommodate her health issues, even though they initially tried to blame her non-attendance on some kind of willful disobedience, laziness or skipping.

It is not neglect when a student refuses to go to school because they are dealing with mental health issues (whether iatrogenic or mental health issues stemming from an undiagnosed or unaccommodated learning disability) or when they are being punished (instead of accommodated or provided special instruction) at school for having a learning disability (as is so often the case)>

[Anonymous]

Just wow. This is serious yet the MCPS apologist booster trolls are out with wanting to focus on who leaked the data. If this is your biggest concern with this article then you have problems.

They want you to think that someone at Einstein miskeyed a large number students being absent 47 times because their kid had 1-2 erroneous absences on their report card. They tried saying the only thing wrong with the article is that it didn't say that this happens at W schools -which it doesn't and WAPO had the data. Large number of kids having over 20 let alone 40 absences is NOT a typo and not a family deciding to go to Europe and take their kids out for two extra weeks around the holidays. These are not kids with medical excuses and doctor's note. These are kids that are truant and skipping school.


MCPS does nothing and pressures the teachers to inflate their grades to keep the graduation rates for low performing schools up. They don't want their graduation numbers to reveal how many problems are at the school or more UMC families will flee those schools. Schools like Einstein are much lower performing than even the public abysmal numbers show. In true MCPS fashion they have taken the approach to hide this and provide basically fraudulent graduation credentials for large numbers of students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just wow. This is serious yet the MCPS apologist booster trolls are out with wanting to focus on who leaked the data. If this is your biggest concern with this article then you have problems.

They want you to think that someone at Einstein miskeyed a large number students being absent 47 times because their kid had 1-2 erroneous absences on their report card. They tried saying the only thing wrong with the article is that it didn't say that this happens at W schools -which it doesn't and WAPO had the data. Large number of kids having over 20 let alone 40 absences is NOT a typo and not a family deciding to go to Europe and take their kids out for two extra weeks around the holidays. These are not kids with medical excuses and doctor's note. These are kids that are truant and skipping school.


MCPS does nothing and pressures the teachers to inflate their grades to keep the graduation rates for low performing schools up. They don't want their graduation numbers to reveal how many problems are at the school or more UMC families will flee those schools. Schools like Einstein are much lower performing than even the public abysmal numbers show. In true MCPS fashion they have taken the approach to hide this and provide basically fraudulent graduation credentials for large numbers of students.

The who? I'm an MCPS parent, talking about my personal experiences with MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure there is an issue but I also know that my kids often have unexcused absences that were entered wrong that no one bothers to correct. Sometimes we do not even know till we get the report card. Or we get an email and it is a field trip or sports.

Don't make excuses.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/can-you-skip-47-days-of-english-class-and-still-graduate-from-high-school/2019/05/25/be3318ca-1b84-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?utm_term=.a076946cf709

This has been going on for a LONG time. Someone had the balls to bring it to the surface.

This is how it works:

In Montgomery, educators in a string of high schools have told The Post that attendance practices are lax, vague or inconsistent. Some say they feel pressured to give makeup work, extend deadlines, excuse assignments or find other ways to help repeatedly absent students pass — and that the problem is not just a matter of seniors’ losing interest as their high school days wind down.

So yes, a kid can miss instruction but teachers are FORCED to re-teach/re-assess, which pulls the responsibility away from the kid. And how much learning can be done through "tutoring?" Do you really think that Jo Jo, who's absent 3/5 days each week, is learning? even WITH "re-teaching?"

absolutely disgusting!

This is also an issue in elementary schools. I have had students who miss 30 plus days of school. The PPW sends letters and very rarely does the parent have to attend a truancy hearing. One of the biggest issues we face is with kids whom we suspect have a learning disability not being able to move past the EMT process because the attendance rate is an issue. We’ve made calls to CPS because it can be considered neglect but still nothing happens. Then we have to answer as to why the student is below grade level, and like every other logical reason it’s considered to be an excuse by admin.

This is a YOU problem not a parent problem. What I mean is that if the school is out of legal compliance if they are requiring students to have fewer than 5 unexcused absences in order to receive an IEP. That is not anywhere in the law. Your school is causing the problem by creating a process with an illegal requirement. There are many many reasons why kids don't attend school. My DC had a mental health issue and missed 50% of some classes in HS. DC still graduated and went to an Ivy League school because we insisted the 504 team accommodate her health issues, even though they initially tried to blame her non-attendance on some kind of willful disobedience, laziness or skipping.

It is not neglect when a student refuses to go to school because they are dealing with mental health issues (whether iatrogenic or mental health issues stemming from an undiagnosed or unaccommodated learning disability) or when they are being punished (instead of accommodated or provided special instruction) at school for having a learning disability (as is so often the case)>

I'm the PP you're responding to. Your situation is different than the one I'm describing. I said nothing about the school requiring students to have fewer than 5 unexcused absences in order to receive an IEP. I'm talking about students who have missed around 30 days of school not just this year but in other years as well and they're only in 3rd grade.

You can't get to an IEP without EMTs, screenings, evals etc. When a student has missed that much school, attendance can be considered an exclusionary factor. Missing that amount of school is basically the equivalent of missing a marking period of school each year. If they haven't been exposed to the curriculum and instruction and it the amount of time missed has accumulated over years, then the team can't say for sure they suspect a disability because the student hasn't had the opportunity to learn, and they won't move forward to screening and evaluation even if the student has been receiving appropriate interventions. These parents aren't requesting the meetings--it is the teachers who have requested the meeting. As a teacher, it is extremely frustrating.

I never said anything about school refusal due to mental health issues. These are just parents who don't feel like waking up in time to put their kid on the bus, or if they walk don't feel like going outside if it's raining or too cold.

I think you might be overgeneralizing your situation to other situations. I'm not a Special Ed teacher and don't know all the intricacies of the laws but this has been my experience in a few high FARMS/ESOL elementary schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure there is an issue but I also know that my kids often have unexcused absences that were entered wrong that no one bothers to correct. Sometimes we do not even know till we get the report card. Or we get an email and it is a field trip or sports.

Don't make excuses.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/can-you-skip-47-days-of-english-class-and-still-graduate-from-high-school/2019/05/25/be3318ca-1b84-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?utm_term=.a076946cf709

This has been going on for a LONG time. Someone had the balls to bring it to the surface.

This is how it works:

In Montgomery, educators in a string of high schools have told The Post that attendance practices are lax, vague or inconsistent. Some say they feel pressured to give makeup work, extend deadlines, excuse assignments or find other ways to help repeatedly absent students pass — and that the problem is not just a matter of seniors’ losing interest as their high school days wind down.

So yes, a kid can miss instruction but teachers are FORCED to re-teach/re-assess, which pulls the responsibility away from the kid. And how much learning can be done through "tutoring?" Do you really think that Jo Jo, who's absent 3/5 days each week, is learning? even WITH "re-teaching?"

absolutely disgusting!

This is also an issue in elementary schools. I have had students who miss 30 plus days of school. The PPW sends letters and very rarely does the parent have to attend a truancy hearing. One of the biggest issues we face is with kids whom we suspect have a learning disability not being able to move past the EMT process because the attendance rate is an issue. We’ve made calls to CPS because it can be considered neglect but still nothing happens. Then we have to answer as to why the student is below grade level, and like every other logical reason it’s considered to be an excuse by admin.

This is a YOU problem not a parent problem. What I mean is that if the school is out of legal compliance if they are requiring students to have fewer than 5 unexcused absences in order to receive an IEP. That is not anywhere in the law. Your school is causing the problem by creating a process with an illegal requirement. There are many many reasons why kids don't attend school. My DC had a mental health issue and missed 50% of some classes in HS. DC still graduated and went to an Ivy League school because we insisted the 504 team accommodate her health issues, even though they initially tried to blame her non-attendance on some kind of willful disobedience, laziness or skipping.

It is not neglect when a student refuses to go to school because they are dealing with mental health issues (whether iatrogenic or mental health issues stemming from an undiagnosed or unaccommodated learning disability) or when they are being punished (instead of accommodated or provided special instruction) at school for having a learning disability (as is so often the case)>

NP. Where did the PP say anything about five days? She cited 30+. "Lack of instruction" is right there on the learning disability form as a contraindication for identifying a student with SLD. It is literally part of the IDEA definition as an exclusionary factor. If you are chronically absent, you have a lack of instruction. You cannot be provided specialized instruction without an IEP, because that's a violation of Least Restrictive Environment, and you can't get an IEP for SLD if you don't go to school. This is not MCPS or your school trying to trap you. It's what the federal law says. Your anger is misplaced.

[Anonymous]

Good for WAPO! I wish that they would do more investigative reporting like this. I'm sure that MCPS central office staff is on the war path trying to figure out who shared the data instead of spending one minute on how to fix the actual problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child who has been severely bullied at school and social media that has caused a mental health crisis. We have reported the bullying but the school administrators are not doing anything to improve the situation. What we have been told to do is to submit a note saying that my child is out for medical reasons.

Out of concern for the missed instruction, we asked for home instruction because of the number of days missed. He was denied. It's ludicrous that he watches YouTube and Kahn Academy to learn the material and can get As and Bs when he has been absent 25% of the semester. He does better than some kids who attend class regularly because the online resources are better than the teachers in the classroom.

Why do you think IIS (formerly HHT) will be better? It’s not a private tutor. Often the lessons are simplified versions of what the classroom teacher does. And the scope of content is always less. In addition, only the 4 core academic subjects are taught (unless the child is in high school health as a senior).

Some instruction would be better than no instruction was my thought. IIS can be added as Special Education Services on an IEP. A mental health impairment would be the disability. Mental health issues can wax and wane so the school team needs to develop a plan to help a child have access when the child is unable to attend school. The hostile educational environment is also denying a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure there is an issue but I also know that my kids often have unexcused absences that were entered wrong that no one bothers to correct. Sometimes we do not even know till we get the report card. Or we get an email and it is a field trip or sports.

Don't make excuses.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/can-you-skip-47-days-of-english-class-and-still-graduate-from-high-school/2019/05/25/be3318ca-1b84-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?utm_term=.a076946cf709

This has been going on for a LONG time. Someone had the balls to bring it to the surface.

This is how it works:

In Montgomery, educators in a string of high schools have told The Post that attendance practices are lax, vague or inconsistent. Some say they feel pressured to give makeup work, extend deadlines, excuse assignments or find other ways to help repeatedly absent students pass — and that the problem is not just a matter of seniors’ losing interest as their high school days wind down.

So yes, a kid can miss instruction but teachers are FORCED to re-teach/re-assess, which pulls the responsibility away from the kid. And how much learning can be done through "tutoring?" Do you really think that Jo Jo, who's absent 3/5 days each week, is learning? even WITH "re-teaching?"

absolutely disgusting!

This is also an issue in elementary schools. I have had students who miss 30 plus days of school. The PPW sends letters and very rarely does the parent have to attend a truancy hearing. One of the biggest issues we face is with kids whom we suspect have a learning disability not being able to move past the EMT process because the attendance rate is an issue. We’ve made calls to CPS because it can be considered neglect but still nothing happens. Then we have to answer as to why the student is below grade level, and like every other logical reason it’s considered to be an excuse by admin.

This is a YOU problem not a parent problem. What I mean is that if the school is out of legal compliance if they are requiring students to have fewer than 5 unexcused absences in order to receive an IEP. That is not anywhere in the law. Your school is causing the problem by creating a process with an illegal requirement. There are many many reasons why kids don't attend school. My DC had a mental health issue and missed 50% of some classes in HS. DC still graduated and went to an Ivy League school because we insisted the 504 team accommodate her health issues, even though they initially tried to blame her non-attendance on some kind of willful disobedience, laziness or skipping.

It is not neglect when a student refuses to go to school because they are dealing with mental health issues (whether iatrogenic or mental health issues stemming from an undiagnosed or unaccommodated learning disability) or when they are being punished (instead of accommodated or provided special instruction) at school for having a learning disability (as is so often the case)>

NP. Where did the PP say anything about five days? She cited 30+. "Lack of instruction" is right there on the learning disability form as a contraindication for identifying a student with SLD. It is literally part of the IDEA definition as an exclusionary factor. If you are chronically absent, you have a lack of instruction. You cannot be provided specialized instruction without an IEP, because that's a violation of Least Restrictive Environment, and you can't get an IEP for SLD if you don't go to school. This is not MCPS or your school trying to trap you. It's what the federal law says. Your anger is misplaced.

Pay attention to the form. A mental health impairment is NOT a Specific Learning Disability. These are two different disabilities so the school would be using the wrong form for a mental health impairment. A mental health impairment can impact a child's ability to go to school and the child will need an IEP for support. IIS might be needed as a Special Education Services for when the child can't go to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just wow. This is serious yet the MCPS apologist booster trolls are out with wanting to focus on who leaked the data. If this is your biggest concern with this article then you have problems.

They want you to think that someone at Einstein miskeyed a large number students being absent 47 times because their kid had 1-2 erroneous absences on their report card. They tried saying the only thing wrong with the article is that it didn't say that this happens at W schools -which it doesn't and WAPO had the data. Large number of kids having over 20 let alone 40 absences is NOT a typo and not a family deciding to go to Europe and take their kids out for two extra weeks around the holidays. These are not kids with medical excuses and doctor's note. These are kids that are truant and skipping school.


MCPS does nothing and pressures the teachers to inflate their grades to keep the graduation rates for low performing schools up. They don't want their graduation numbers to reveal how many problems are at the school or more UMC families will flee those schools. Schools like Einstein are much lower performing than even the public abysmal numbers show. In true MCPS fashion they have taken the approach to hide this and provide basically fraudulent graduation credentials for large numbers of students.

Who leaked the data is extremely important to this investigation. If you don't understand that, you don't know anything about Montgomery County politics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child who has been severely bullied at school and social media that has caused a mental health crisis. We have reported the bullying but the school administrators are not doing anything to improve the situation. What we have been told to do is to submit a note saying that my child is out for medical reasons.

Out of concern for the missed instruction, we asked for home instruction because of the number of days missed. He was denied. It's ludicrous that he watches YouTube and Kahn Academy to learn the material and can get As and Bs when he has been absent 25% of the semester. He does better than some kids who attend class regularly because the online resources are better than the teachers in the classroom.

Why do you think IIS (formerly HHT) will be better? It’s not a private tutor. Often the lessons are simplified versions of what the classroom teacher does. And the scope of content is always less. In addition, only the 4 core academic subjects are taught (unless the child is in high school health as a senior).

Some instruction would be better than no instruction was my thought. IIS can be added as Special Education Services on an IEP. A mental health impairment would be the disability. Mental health issues can wax and wane so the school team needs to develop a plan to help a child have access when the child is unable to attend school. The hostile educational environment is also denying a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).

If you were highly dissatisfied with regular classroom instruction, you’d hate IIS.

If you want it just for the principle of the matter (FAPE), insist on it. If you found YouTube or Khan Academy better for your child than his classes in school, getting IIS will be a Phyrric victory. You’ll just give him 3 hours of distraction from his real learning. Might be better to supplement his videos with a free Homeschooling comprehensive curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just wow. This is serious yet the MCPS apologist booster trolls are out with wanting to focus on who leaked the data. If this is your biggest concern with this article then you have problems.

They want you to think that someone at Einstein miskeyed a large number students being absent 47 times because their kid had 1-2 erroneous absences on their report card. They tried saying the only thing wrong with the article is that it didn't say that this happens at W schools -which it doesn't and WAPO had the data. Large number of kids having over 20 let alone 40 absences is NOT a typo and not a family deciding to go to Europe and take their kids out for two extra weeks around the holidays. These are not kids with medical excuses and doctor's note. These are kids that are truant and skipping school.


MCPS does nothing and pressures the teachers to inflate their grades to keep the graduation rates for low performing schools up. They don't want their graduation numbers to reveal how many problems are at the school or more UMC families will flee those schools. Schools like Einstein are much lower performing than even the public abysmal numbers show. In true MCPS fashion they have taken the approach to hide this and provide basically fraudulent graduation credentials for large numbers of students.

Who leaked the data is extremely important to this investigation. If you don't understand that, you don't know anything about Montgomery County politics.

Finding the leaker is important because Jack Smith will then be able to change the subject by claiming the real issue is student privacy. He will circle the wagons, find a low-level scapegoat, and persist in his truly ridiculous position that no “wrongdoing” happened, even though administrators pressured teachers. He’s a joke and if the BOE does nothing to address this scandal, they too are a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure there is an issue but I also know that my kids often have unexcused absences that were entered wrong that no one bothers to correct. Sometimes we do not even know till we get the report card. Or we get an email and it is a field trip or sports.

Don't make excuses.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/can-you-skip-47-days-of-english-class-and-still-graduate-from-high-school/2019/05/25/be3318ca-1b84-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?utm_term=.a076946cf709

This has been going on for a LONG time. Someone had the balls to bring it to the surface.

This is how it works:

In Montgomery, educators in a string of high schools have told The Post that attendance practices are lax, vague or inconsistent. Some say they feel pressured to give makeup work, extend deadlines, excuse assignments or find other ways to help repeatedly absent students pass — and that the problem is not just a matter of seniors’ losing interest as their high school days wind down.

So yes, a kid can miss instruction but teachers are FORCED to re-teach/re-assess, which pulls the responsibility away from the kid. And how much learning can be done through "tutoring?" Do you really think that Jo Jo, who's absent 3/5 days each week, is learning? even WITH "re-teaching?"

absolutely disgusting!

This is also an issue in elementary schools. I have had students who miss 30 plus days of school. The PPW sends letters and very rarely does the parent have to attend a truancy hearing. One of the biggest issues we face is with kids whom we suspect have a learning disability not being able to move past the EMT process because the attendance rate is an issue. We’ve made calls to CPS because it can be considered neglect but still nothing happens. Then we have to answer as to why the student is below grade level, and like every other logical reason it’s considered to be an excuse by admin.

This is a YOU problem not a parent problem. What I mean is that if the school is out of legal compliance if they are requiring students to have fewer than 5 unexcused absences in order to receive an IEP. That is not anywhere in the law. Your school is causing the problem by creating a process with an illegal requirement. There are many many reasons why kids don't attend school. My DC had a mental health issue and missed 50% of some classes in HS. DC still graduated and went to an Ivy League school because we insisted the 504 team accommodate her health issues, even though they initially tried to blame her non-attendance on some kind of willful disobedience, laziness or skipping.

It is not neglect when a student refuses to go to school because they are dealing with mental health issues (whether iatrogenic or mental health issues stemming from an undiagnosed or unaccommodated learning disability) or when they are being punished (instead of accommodated or provided special instruction) at school for having a learning disability (as is so often the case)>

NP. Where did the PP say anything about five days? She cited 30+. "Lack of instruction" is right there on the learning disability form as a contraindication for identifying a student with SLD. It is literally part of the IDEA definition as an exclusionary factor. If you are chronically absent, you have a lack of instruction. You cannot be provided specialized instruction without an IEP, because that's a violation of Least Restrictive Environment, and you can't get an IEP for SLD if you don't go to school. This is not MCPS or your school trying to trap you. It's what the federal law says. Your anger is misplaced.

Pay attention to the form. A mental health impairment is NOT a Specific Learning Disability. These are two different disabilities so the school would be using the wrong form for a mental health impairment. A mental health impairment can impact a child's ability to go to school and the child will need an IEP for support. IIS might be needed as a Special Education Services for when the child can't go to school.

You are like a dog with a bone without any reading comprehension skills c

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure there is an issue but I also know that my kids often have unexcused absences that were entered wrong that no one bothers to correct. Sometimes we do not even know till we get the report card. Or we get an email and it is a field trip or sports.

Don't make excuses.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/can-you-skip-47-days-of-english-class-and-still-graduate-from-high-school/2019/05/25/be3318ca-1b84-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?utm_term=.a076946cf709

This has been going on for a LONG time. Someone had the balls to bring it to the surface.

This is how it works:

In Montgomery, educators in a string of high schools have told The Post that attendance practices are lax, vague or inconsistent. Some say they feel pressured to give makeup work, extend deadlines, excuse assignments or find other ways to help repeatedly absent students pass — and that the problem is not just a matter of seniors’ losing interest as their high school days wind down.

So yes, a kid can miss instruction but teachers are FORCED to re-teach/re-assess, which pulls the responsibility away from the kid. And how much learning can be done through "tutoring?" Do you really think that Jo Jo, who's absent 3/5 days each week, is learning? even WITH "re-teaching?"

absolutely disgusting!

This is also an issue in elementary schools. I have had students who miss 30 plus days of school. The PPW sends letters and very rarely does the parent have to attend a truancy hearing. One of the biggest issues we face is with kids whom we suspect have a learning disability not being able to move past the EMT process because the attendance rate is an issue. We’ve made calls to CPS because it can be considered neglect but still nothing happens. Then we have to answer as to why the student is below grade level, and like every other logical reason it’s considered to be an excuse by admin.

This is a YOU problem not a parent problem. What I mean is that if the school is out of legal compliance if they are requiring students to have fewer than 5 unexcused absences in order to receive an IEP. That is not anywhere in the law. Your school is causing the problem by creating a process with an illegal requirement. There are many many reasons why kids don't attend school. My DC had a mental health issue and missed 50% of some classes in HS. DC still graduated and went to an Ivy League school because we insisted the 504 team accommodate her health issues, even though they initially tried to blame her non-attendance on some kind of willful disobedience, laziness or skipping.

It is not neglect when a student refuses to go to school because they are dealing with mental health issues (whether iatrogenic or mental health issues stemming from an undiagnosed or unaccommodated learning disability) or when they are being punished (instead of accommodated or provided special instruction) at school for having a learning disability (as is so often the case)>

NP. Where did the PP say anything about five days? She cited 30+. "Lack of instruction" is right there on the learning disability form as a contraindication for identifying a student with SLD. It is literally part of the IDEA definition as an exclusionary factor. If you are chronically absent, you have a lack of instruction. You cannot be provided specialized instruction without an IEP, because that's a violation of Least Restrictive Environment, and you can't get an IEP for SLD if you don't go to school. This is not MCPS or your school trying to trap you. It's what the federal law says. Your anger is misplaced.

Pay attention to the form. A mental health impairment is NOT a Specific Learning Disability. These are two different disabilities so the school would be using the wrong form for a mental health impairment. A mental health impairment can impact a child's ability to go to school and the child will need an IEP for support. IIS might be needed as a Special Education Services for when the child can't go to school.

You are like a dog with a bone without any reading comprehension skills c

Ignorance of what is actually in IDEA is the primary reason MCPS is not compliant. If you work for MCPS and are a member of IEP teams, please get training on the many different types of disabilities that qualify for an IEP if there's an educational impact. Obviously if a child's mental health impairment is affecting his/her ability to attend school, there's an educational impact that needs to be addressed.