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Old October 25th 03, 07:17 PM
Donna Metler
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Default Bright 2nd grader & school truancy / part-time home-school?


"ColoradoSkiBum" wrote in message
...
: If your child is missing school because she's sick, then she is *not*
: truant. The school cannot punish/penalized you or her for missing due
to
: illness. They may require that you provide a doctor's note (which is

a
real
: PITA since it means you have to take her to the doctor if she's sick),
but
: that's as far as they can go.
:
:
: On the contrary, thanks to the reforms associated with
: "No Child Left Behind" that's not true. They *can* create
: problems with too many absences *even* if they're excused, and
: even if there are doctor's notes.

I obviously spoke too soon; it really depends on the district. One of the
districts I used to teach in was very good about working with students who
had long-term illnesses, and would set up in-home tutoring for kids so

they
could keep on top of their work and not get too far behind. OTOH, we had
students who ditched 20 days in a single school *quarter* (9 weeks) and we
could not get rid of them. When the school finally got them and their
parents before the judge, basically the judge would make it out to be all
the school's fault for not getting the kid into school. Did we call their
parent every time the kid was absent? Did an administrator go to the home
to look for the kid? Things like that made me leave that district.


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.


--
ColoradoSkiBum