In article ,
"Donna Metler" wrote:


The problem isn't the child who has a long-term absense-children on
homebound are considered to be in attendance under the law. But a child who
misses a day here, a day there, whether due to illness, parents pulling them
out for trips, or cutting to hang out at the mall is a big problem, both
for funding (Average Daily Attendance) and for truancy statisitics.

If your child has a medical condition which may require frequent short
absenses, a homebound plan can be put into effect, where the child is
considered to be homebound, but attends school when able-this is part of a
504 plan or an IEP (for Other Health Issues). With St. Jude's hospital in my
district, we have had quite a few children at my school who are in treatment
for Cancer, and attend school when they're feeling good, but stay home when
they're reacting badly to chemotherapy, or when their resistance is down.


Part of the problem is that, unless you really know what you are doing
or hook up with someone who does, the school can make it hard for you to
get the support to which you are legally entitled.

Several years ago, my daughter became severely ill with hepatitis.
Obviously, she was going to miss a lot of school. What I wanted was
support for homebound teachers for her classes, and, since we lived
across the street from the school, I wanted her to be able to return to
classes part time when she was strong enough first for Chemistry and
when she could handle two classes a day for Spanish -- the two classes
where actually being there mattered most. I spent several weeks getting
a run around from the school (the principal wanted me to withdraw her
from school all together and put her in independent study until she was
strong enough to come back full time). Then i got the expected call
from the county health department that does the contact tracing for Hep.
B. She asked if there was anything I needed. I described the situation
with the school, and she said she'd take care of it. Within less than
five hours, I had a call from the school giving us exactly what I'd been
asking for!

I am not an uneducated person, and I knew that what I was asking for was
legal and appropriate -- I just hadn't had the clout to pull the right
strings. Frankly, that makes me very angry on behalf of the kids whose
parents don't know their legal entitlements and never hook up with
someone who can help them.

meh
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care