Can My Kid Miss PK4 Days?

[Anonymous]

My daughter is starting PK4 in DCPS next month. We would like to take a couple of days off in October to visit some friends and would like to take her with us, but she would miss two days of school. Since PK4 is not compulsory, does it matter that she'd have a couple of unexcused absences? Would there be any negative repercussions? Another parent tried to ask this question during a recent Q&A at the school, but the teacher just responded that the absences would be unexcused.

[Anonymous]

Two unexcused absences is not a problem. A week or two of unexcused absences would be.

[Anonymous]

https://dcps.dc.gov/attendance

Yes, your kid can miss a couple of days unexcused. The repercussions are laid out in the attendance policy, though as you note, since PK4 isn't compulsory, it's not strictly enforced. That said, if your child is enrolled out of bounds at a school with a long waitlist or your child presents other issues at the school (behavioral, for example), too many unexcused absences jeopardizes your ability to reenroll the following year.

For what it's worth, I've never been asked to provide a doctor's note for medical absences. We haven't had DD out of school for more than 5 days in a row with illness, though.

[Anonymous]

Two is fine.

[Anonymous]

Your kid is FOUR. She doesn't even need to be in school at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your kid is FOUR. She doesn't even need to be in school at all.

She doesn't HAVE to be, no. But given that she IS, her parents would do well to obey the rules established by her school. This is true of any school/daycare you have your child enrolled in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your kid is FOUR. She doesn't even need to be in school at all.

OP here. Perhaps you should have gone to school earlier so that someone could teach you that if you can't say anything responsive to the question, there's no reason for you to weigh in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid is FOUR. She doesn't even need to be in school at all.

OP here. Perhaps you should have gone to school earlier so that someone could teach you that if you can't say anything responsive to the question, there's no reason for you to weigh in.

Perhaps YOU need more education so you can learn to make a well-crafted argument that is based on fact. Yours isn't since you have no idea WHEN I started school. Also, my answer WAS responsive to the question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid is FOUR. She doesn't even need to be in school at all.

OP here. Perhaps you should have gone to school earlier so that someone could teach you that if you can't say anything responsive to the question, there's no reason for you to weigh in.

Perhaps YOU need more education so you can learn to make a well-crafted argument that is based on fact. Yours isn't since you have no idea WHEN I started school. Also, my answer WAS responsive to the question.

I'm sorry you're so angry. I hope your day gets better.

[Anonymous]

I think in theory they can unenroll a kid for too many unexcused absences but this is more likely to happen at a charter school than a DCPS. And 2 days is highly unlikely to be a problem.

FWIW, we missed several days during the year for family events - a wedding, a funeral, and two grandparent visits. I just texted the teacher what was going on. sometimes, I would still get the robocall from the school that there was an unexcused absence. Nothing ever came of it.

And there was a kid in DD's class whose parent was temporarily stationed overseas. She was out of school for over a month and they didn't boot her and did let her re-enroll. I'm sure they had to make special arrangements, but I didn't get the impression it was a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think in theory they can unenroll a kid for too many unexcused absences but this is more likely to happen at a charter school than a DCPS. And 2 days is highly unlikely to be a problem.

FWIW, we missed several days during the year for family events - a wedding, a funeral, and two grandparent visits. I just texted the teacher what was going on. sometimes, I would still get the robocall from the school that there was an unexcused absence. Nothing ever came of it.

And there was a kid in DD's class whose parent was temporarily stationed overseas. She was out of school for over a month and they didn't boot her and did let her re-enroll. I'm sure they had to make special arrangements, but I didn't get the impression it was a big deal.

This is very helpful. Thank you. This is our in-boundary DCPS, so it seems like we don't have anything to worry about.

[Anonymous]

OP, my DD just finished first grade at our in-bounds DCPS. She's been there since PK4, and this year was the first year I got a letter noting that she had 3 unexcused absences and saying that at 5, we'd need to have a meeting with the school social worker to make sure there wasn't anything going on that was impeding my DD's ability to get to school. As it turned out, 2/3 of those unexcused absences were actually attendance taking errors. She definitely had 3-4 unexcused absences in PK4 but I never got a letter about it.

Don't worry about a couple days. Do try to make sure that your child comes to school in general, but don't worry about getting kicked out. These rules were set up to protect children whose parents are not able to get it together to get them to school and punish teenage truants - not 4yo who want to hang out with a grandparent on a random Friday.

[Anonymous]

Make sure you document communication with the school about unexcused absences. We sent the school registrar emails each time we take a day off for any reason, noting the reason, cc'd to ourselves. We keep the emails in case the school decides to intervene. Don't be intimidated by a threatened meeting with a social worker (very seldom for PreK4, not all that unusual for K up). That sort of meeting takes around 10 minutes if parents sound like a broken record on the issues. You say here are the records on the absences, they explain my reasons. The social worker says you were bad, don't do it again, you say, right, right. Thank you, good-bye. Done.

[Anonymous]

We missed 3 weeks in Pk4 - just discuss it before with your administration. You will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We missed 3 weeks in Pk4 - just discuss it before with your administration. You will be fine.

Do talk to them in advance. October is when the annual "count days" happen at each school - auditors come in, spot check enrollment paperwork and literally count how many students are really there.

If your travel coincides with your school's count day, they can still prove your child is enrolled, but it's a hassle. They will want to know ahead of time if you're going to be away.