: 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.
--
ColoradoSkiBum