More than 10 un-excused absences

[Anonymous]

Something like this happened to my friend in DCPS when his kids missed the last two weeks of school before summer to travel to Europe. The family mistakenly sent a note to the classroom teacher instead of the office. These absences pushed the kids over the limit of 10.

The family got calls from Children and Family Services, and the school un-enrolled the kids. All a big hassle. But ultimately no harm done. Children and Family Services made the required phone call (no follow up required because the kids were clearly not at risk - they were in the South of France!), and the kids re-enrolled at the same school for the next school year. This would have been a huge problem, however, had the kids not been attending their IB school.

[Anonymous]

This happened to me when my kids were in DCPS.
I had to meet with the social worker, after having several phone conversations. They will meet with you and "counsel" you on the importance of attendance and learning and you will say ok and go home.

The principal has the ability to determine if an absence is excused or not, illness and death in the family were excused, family trips for what ever purpose were not b/c principal didn't think it was "fair" to kids who didn't have the same opportunities.

Social worker told me, going forward to take the trip, and just report it as an illness, do not report it in advance that we needed to go out of town for whatever reason. I questioned her on the teaching my kids to lie aspect of it and she just kind of shrugged her shoulders.

[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.

I've been a DCPS parent for 7 years and have never written a note and had no idea I was supposed to. Additionally we attend a school with many international families and it is routine for 3 or 4 kids in a class to miss a week or more for international travel -- less as the kids reach the upper grades. But the kids come back and talk about the experience -- bring local food, pictures, etc. to share -- its great. Hope it was a great trip OP and that you would do it again.

[Anonymous]

20:15, it depends on the school. My former school made us write a note for every absence. The new school prefers you call the front office. Also, enforcement seems to vary per school. Some WOTP elementaries seem to accept the international travel excuse more readily (I suspect you are at the one I'm thinking of), but other elementaries enforce the policy strictly. However, I kind of think that 10 unexcused absences isn't that hard to manage. I could take my kids out for two weeks to go to Spain and not even have a problem. Yes, they'll be absent outside of that, but only with excused illnesses. Not such a big deal. Oh, except for little Larla and her tuba recitals that is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She is in first grade. Illness is apparently only excused if you send a note at the time, which we didn't know.

Did you not just call or email to explain why the child would be out? I've never heard of illness not being excused - there's no school that wants you bringing a sick child into the classroom. She won't learn and the others may now get sick as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This happened to me when my kids were in DCPS.
I had to meet with the social worker, after having several phone conversations. They will meet with you and "counsel" you on the importance of attendance and learning and you will say ok and go home.

The principal has the ability to determine if an absence is excused or not, illness and death in the family were excused, family trips for what ever purpose were not b/c principal didn't think it was "fair" to kids who didn't have the same opportunities.

Social worker told me, going forward to take the trip, and just report it as an illness, do not report it in advance that we needed to go out of town for whatever reason. I questioned her on the teaching my kids to lie aspect of it and she just kind of shrugged her shoulders.

I had this conversation last year with the then-attendance person in our school's front office. It was alarming, honestly, being told to lie about why DD wasn't in school. The system encourages this, now. This is one reason that Relisha Rudd remains missing - her mom told the school that she was sick, with a doctor, etc. when that was not what was happening at all. Had someone noticed earlier, maybe she would not be missing and presumed dead. A system that actively supports parents being deceptive about where their kids are is asking for trouble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Something like this happened to my friend in DCPS when his kids missed the last two weeks of school before summer to travel to Europe. The family mistakenly sent a note to the classroom teacher instead of the office. These absences pushed the kids over the limit of 10.

The family got calls from Children and Family Services, and the school un-enrolled the kids. All a big hassle. But ultimately no harm done. Children and Family Services made the required phone call (no follow up required because the kids were clearly not at risk - they were in the South of France!), and the kids re-enrolled at the same school for the next school year. This would have been a huge problem, however, had the kids not been attending their IB school.

Wow - the school simply un-enrolled them? This does not sound like a desirable school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your attitude is the problem. You didn't even know to write the note when your child was sick. If the mandate is to have kids enrolled in school at 5 I have no idea why you would think they shouldn't enforced attendance rules. Work trip or not, your kids should be in school. You need to inform yourself of the rules. I doubt anything serious will come out of this, but let this serve as a wake up call.

How should I have known I need to write a note? I always informed the teacher, as the person who would notice that she is not there during the day.

Because when you were growing up and you weren't going to be in school, your mom either wrote a note or called the school. How many countless movies and sitcoms have relied on this plot device? Did you ever see Ferris Bueller's Day Off? The Breakfast Club? Or even Carol Brady or Claire Huxtable? How could you possibly not know to inform the people who are responsible for attendance records that your child would be absent?

At first I felt sorry for you, but that's just inexcusably entitled, arrogant, and most of all stupid.

[Anonymous]

OP- This happened to me in another school system. I got a note saying my child had too many unexcused absences with a threat to involve the courts. I called the school and they demanded I get medical notes for the days my child saw a doctor. I think we had 11 unexcused days - one full week for confirmed flu and then strep twice. It was a rough year. Plus I pulled them out when their older brother returned from Afghanistan.

Here's the thing - We have five kids and this was our youngest. School threats don't rattle me like they do a lot of parents. I called the school's bluff. I wasn't about to go through the hassle of finding old medical records. My child was a straight A student in the gifted program. I told the school to escalate it if they felt it was important enough, otherwise I didn't want to hear another word about it.

They dropped it. I feel very strongly that schools overstep their boundaries. If I say my kids are sick, they are sick. If I want to pull them out of school for an overseas trip, I will. I'm not asking permission. Once I made it clear that I wasn't at all concerned, the school backed off. I was polite, but firm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your attitude is the problem. You didn't even know to write the note when your child was sick. If the mandate is to have kids enrolled in school at 5 I have no idea why you would think they shouldn't enforced attendance rules. Work trip or not, your kids should be in school. You need to inform yourself of the rules. I doubt anything serious will come out of this, but let this serve as a wake up call.

How should I have known I need to write a note? I always informed the teacher, as the person who would notice that she is not there during the day.

Because when you were growing up and you weren't going to be in school, your mom either wrote a note or called the school. How many countless movies and sitcoms have relied on this plot device? Did you ever see Ferris Bueller's Day Off? The Breakfast Club? Or even Carol Brady or Claire Huxtable? How could you possibly not know to inform the people who are responsible for attendance records that your child would be absent?

At first I felt sorry for you, but that's just inexcusably entitled, arrogant, and most of all stupid.

Wow, what a lot of vitriol! sheesh. I guess I figured that now that I can text the teacher (she encourages communication this way), the need for a note was not the same as what it was in '80s TV and movies...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your attitude is the problem. You didn't even know to write the note when your child was sick. If the mandate is to have kids enrolled in school at 5 I have no idea why you would think they shouldn't enforced attendance rules. Work trip or not, your kids should be in school. You need to inform yourself of the rules. I doubt anything serious will come out of this, but let this serve as a wake up call.

How should I have known I need to write a note? I always informed the teacher, as the person who would notice that she is not there during the day.

Because when you were growing up and you weren't going to be in school, your mom either wrote a note or called the school. How many countless movies and sitcoms have relied on this plot device? Did you ever see Ferris Bueller's Day Off? The Breakfast Club? Or even Carol Brady or Claire Huxtable? How could you possibly not know to inform the people who are responsible for attendance records that your child would be absent?

At first I felt sorry for you, but that's just inexcusably entitled, arrogant, and most of all stupid.

Wow, what a lot of vitriol! sheesh. I guess I figured that now that I can text the teacher (she encourages communication this way), the need for a note was not the same as what it was in '80s TV and movies...

The notes aren't for the teacher. They are for the attendance person who answers to someone DCPS and/or OSSE. Maybe there wasn't an attendance person when you were growing up but there is someone with this role now and he/she needs documentation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We attend our neighborhood DCPS, and recieved a letter that DD has more than un-excused absences and thus we need to come for a conference plus "the school is mandated to refer all students with 10 or more unexcused absences to the the child and family services and to the police." Our DD missed a few days of school due to illness, and we missed a week and a half of school around spring break due to a trip overseas. For the latter, we talked to DD's teacher and got work to take with us. Has anyone dealt with this? Will we be getting an investigation?

The absences need to be documented and a note submitted to the attendance counselor/main office in order to be excused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your attitude is the problem. You didn't even know to write the note when your child was sick. If the mandate is to have kids enrolled in school at 5 I have no idea why you would think they shouldn't enforced attendance rules. Work trip or not, your kids should be in school. You need to inform yourself of the rules. I doubt anything serious will come out of this, but let this serve as a wake up call.

How should I have known I need to write a note? I always informed the teacher, as the person who would notice that she is not there during the day.

Because when you were growing up and you weren't going to be in school, your mom either wrote a note or called the school. How many countless movies and sitcoms have relied on this plot device? Did you ever see Ferris Bueller's Day Off? The Breakfast Club? Or even Carol Brady or Claire Huxtable? How could you possibly not know to inform the people who are responsible for attendance records that your child would be absent?

At first I felt sorry for you, but that's just inexcusably entitled, arrogant, and most of all stupid.

Wow, what a lot of vitriol! sheesh. I guess I figured that now that I can text the teacher (she encourages communication this way), the need for a note was not the same as what it was in '80s TV and movies...

The notes aren't for the teacher. They are for the attendance person who answers to someone DCPS and/or OSSE. Maybe there wasn't an attendance person when you were growing up but there is someone with this role now and he/she needs documentation.

Didn't Ferris Bueller give the fake note to his principal?

[Anonymous]

Actually the principal called Ferris' mom to ask if he was sick because he had already racked up too many unexcused absences.

Ferris hacks into the school computer network and erases several to avoid more severe consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually the principal called Ferris' mom to ask if he was sick because he had already racked up too many unexcused absences.

Ferris hacks into the school computer network and erases several to avoid more severe consequences.

OP here, maybe I should try that to solve the problem!