truancy is unexcused absences???

[dosumi]

What is the name of your state? CA

I have a 13 year old daughter, and she has been absent a lot from school so far this year.
She has always been one to get sick very easily.
She has missed a total of 22 days this year. I know that is a lot, but if your sick your sick.
about 3 or 4 days have been due to starting her period, she get strong cramps and they have even made her vomit.
The other days were flu, and other illnesses, having a temperature and other symptoms.
over this time period we have taken her to the Doctor's 10 times.
For each absence she was given a note to turn in.
I have listed California ed code below. Am I missing something, before today a letter stating she has missed a lot this year 19 days. It was just a letter notifying of the amount of days she has missed.
Then she got the flu and was out for 3 more days.
We got this letter to meet with the school and truant officer.
My wife went to this meeting and they had her sign a letter that if she misses more days, we would have to go to some kind of truant board meeting and possible counseling

I don't see how can they do that, as she has always had a written excuse, either from us or a Doctor.
I can't find anything that invalidates the written excuses that were submitted

Thanks

I found 1 other thing at the school board website, under the heading below , it has listed excessive absences, I can find no statement what amount of days it takes to be excessive and if unexcused or excused applies

ADMI N I S T R A TORS’ R E S P O N S I B I L I T I E S
ADMINISTRATIVE RULE 5144 - DISCIPLINE POLICY FOR GRADES 6-12

Excessive unexcused tardiness, excessive absences, truancy, or class cuts Daytime Loitering (Truancy)
Board Policy - Attendance
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


48205. (a) Notwithstanding Section 48200, a pupil shall be excused
from school when the absence is:
(1) Due to his or her illness.
(2) Due to quarantine under the direction of a county or city
health officer.
(3) For the purpose of having medical, dental, optometrical, or
chiropractic services rendered.
(4) For the purpose of attending the funeral services of a member
of his or her immediate family, so long as the absence is not more
than one day if the service is conducted in California and not more
than three days if the service is conducted outside California.
(5) For the purpose of jury duty in the manner provided for by
law.
(6) Due to the illness or medical appointment during school hours
of a child of whom the pupil is the custodial parent.
(7) For justifiable personal reasons, including, but not limited
to, an appearance in court, attendance at a funeral service,
observance of a holiday or ceremony of his or her religion,
attendance at religious retreats, attendance at an employment
conference, or attendance at an educational conference on the
legislative or judicial process offered by a nonprofit organization
when the pupil's absence is requested in writing by the parent or
guardian and approved by the principal or a designated representative
pursuant to uniform standards established by the governing board.
(8) For the purpose of serving as a member of a precinct board for
an election pursuant to Section 12302 of the Elections Code.
(b) A pupil absent from school under this section shall be allowed
to complete all assignments and tests missed during the absence that
can be reasonably provided and, upon satisfactory completion within
a reasonable period of time, shall be given full credit therefor. The
teacher of the class from which a pupil is absent shall determine
which tests and assignments shall be reasonably equivalent to, but
not necessarily identical to, the tests and assignments that the
pupil missed during the absence.
(c) For purposes of this section, attendance at religious retreats
shall not exceed four hours per semester.
(d) Absences pursuant to this section are deemed to be absences in
computing average daily attendance and shall not generate state
apportionment payments.
(e) "Immediate family," as used in this section, has the same
meaning as that set forth in Section 45194, except that references
therein to "employee" shall be deemed to be references to "pupil."What is the name of your state?

 

[Humusluvr]

What is the name of your state? CA

I have a 13 year old daughter, and she has been absent a lot from school so far this year.
She has always been one to get sick very easily.
She has missed a total of 22 days this year. I know that is a lot, but if your sick your sick.
about 3 or 4 days have been due to starting her period, she get strong craps and they have even made her vomit.
The other days were flu, and other illnesses, having a temperature and other symptoms.
over this time period we have taken her to the Doctor's 10 times.
For each absence she was given a note to turn in.
I have listed California ed code below. Am I missing something, before today a letter stating she has missed a lot this year 19 days. It was just a letter notifying of the amount of days she has missed.
Then she got the flu and was out for 3 more days.
We got this letter to meet with the school and truant officer.
My wife went to this meeting and they had her sign a letter that if she misses more days, we would have to go to some kind of truant board meeting and possible counseling

I don't see how can they do that, as she has always had a written excuse, either from us or a Doctor.
I can't find anything that invalidates the written excuses that were submitted

Thanks

I found 1 other thing at the school board website, under the heading below , it has listed excessive absences, I can find no statement what amount of days it takes to be excessive and if unexcused or excused applies

ADMI N I S T R A TORS’ R E S P O N S I B I L I T I E S
ADMINISTRATIVE RULE 5144 - DISCIPLINE POLICY FOR GRADES 6-12

Excessive unexcused tardiness, excessive absences, truancy, or class cuts Daytime Loitering (Truancy)
Board Policy - Attendance
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


48205. (a) Notwithstanding Section 48200, a pupil shall be excused
from school when the absence is:
(1) Due to his or her illness.
(2) Due to quarantine under the direction of a county or city
health officer.
(3) For the purpose of having medical, dental, optometrical, or
chiropractic services rendered.
(4) For the purpose of attending the funeral services of a member
of his or her immediate family, so long as the absence is not more
than one day if the service is conducted in California and not more
than three days if the service is conducted outside California.
(5) For the purpose of jury duty in the manner provided for by
law.
(6) Due to the illness or medical appointment during school hours
of a child of whom the pupil is the custodial parent.
(7) For justifiable personal reasons, including, but not limited
to, an appearance in court, attendance at a funeral service,
observance of a holiday or ceremony of his or her religion,
attendance at religious retreats, attendance at an employment
conference, or attendance at an educational conference on the
legislative or judicial process offered by a nonprofit organization
when the pupil's absence is requested in writing by the parent or
guardian and approved by the principal or a designated representative
pursuant to uniform standards established by the governing board.
(8) For the purpose of serving as a member of a precinct board for
an election pursuant to Section 12302 of the Elections Code.
(b) A pupil absent from school under this section shall be allowed
to complete all assignments and tests missed during the absence that
can be reasonably provided and, upon satisfactory completion within
a reasonable period of time, shall be given full credit therefor. The
teacher of the class from which a pupil is absent shall determine
which tests and assignments shall be reasonably equivalent to, but
not necessarily identical to, the tests and assignments that the
pupil missed during the absence.
(c) For purposes of this section, attendance at religious retreats
shall not exceed four hours per semester.
(d) Absences pursuant to this section are deemed to be absences in
computing average daily attendance and shall not generate state
apportionment payments.
(e) "Immediate family," as used in this section, has the same
meaning as that set forth in Section 45194, except that references
therein to "employee" shall be deemed to be references to "pupil."What is the name of your state?

She has strong craps??? Uh oh! Maybe cramps?

Excessive absences in a school are more than three. She has a lot more absences than three. At ten, I believe, the school will either deny her credit, or make her go in to make up the time. she may lose credit for the grade, have to attend summer school, or be placed in an alternative school. You don't want that to happen.

the truancy officer did the right thing. Your daughter either needs to be in school or actually at the doctor's office. Tell her to go to school, and be seen by the nurse if she is in such bad pain. The nurse will determine if she should go home. But she actually needs to go to school.

Missing days is missing days, whether you try to excuse them, or doc does. She is still going to end up in a situation where she is going to have to make them up. Not good.

 

[dosumi]

legal rights

Sorry I missed that, obviously it should be cramps.

If your statement is correct that 3 absences are excessive than why would they wait until she missed 22 to send a notice? Is that 3 absences written somewhere. I've read about 3 unexcused absences which is a different thing.
As I mentioned on the school board website, they only list excessive absences 1 time and no number of days is listed, I have looked through the website and cannot find a definition for excessive? Or in any of the documentation they gave my wife, it only listed being truant.

I don’t want to be rude, but I’m looking for the law or if I’m misinterpreting what I’ve read in the ED codes for California.
We know she is missing too much time, I said that in my first post. We are working with her Doctor to see if we can get her to be more resistant to becoming ill.

But that is not the point.

Do they have the right to do this even with what the state education codes state as valid excuses?
By what I see, you are not truant, if you have a valid excuse and in that case she shouldn’t have a truancy statement placed in her file.

 

[Perky]

The following link explains the truancy code according to the California Dept of Education:

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ai/tr/

Humusluvr is correct that 3 unexcused absences is considered excessive in California (although that's not necessarily true for other states). Additionally, according to the code, three unexcused tardies of 30 minutes is considered truant. California is VERY strict on truancy.

Do you have a doctor's note every time your daughter is absent for 3 or more consecutive days? In many districts, a parent's note is not sufficient for that. Do you keep her home when she has a cold, or only when she's running a fever and/or vomiting?

Twenty two days is a lot, and CA is very proactive about truancy in order to reverse the high truancy rates in the state. If you have had doctor's notes for extended absences, and valid excuses for her other absences, I suspect you will be okay.

 

[CdwJava]

One of the directions the school might seek is that due to her special medical condition that she be placed in either a special program or receive home-schooling. If she has missed 22 days that is likely enough to result in her failing. If you consider that an entire school year has some 142 days, she has already missed a hair over 15% of the ENTIRE school year ... but, at this rate, it's likely she shall miss another 6 or 7 days (or more) and that will result in her missing about 20% of the school year.

School Attendance Review Boards are designed to try and help the child succeed. This success does NOT mean allowing her to fail her classes or just skip a fifth of her education. If she is so ill that she is missing this much class time, an alternative program needs to be identified or she will risk failing every year.

Obviously, the school is leery of the situation - and rightly so. But, if there is a doctor willing to assert that the child is this ill and must miss school, then you may well be clear of any criminal culpability. However, the SARB panel can make recommendations to you and to the school on how to address her education, and if these guidelines are not adhered to, then everyone can end up before a court.

So, it may be time to discuss with the school what can be done for the benefit of your daughter - something besides just keeping her home and out of school.

(As a note, I spent two years as a School Resource Officer, and served on a SARB panel in southern CA where I was also the acting chairperson for a few months. I am currently an adviser to my county's local SARB as well.)

- Carl

 

[dosumi]

Thanks for the info.

We’ve decided not to fight with the school about excused versus unexcused.
I think the big thing was this school is suppose to be one on the best schools in this area and they have never said a word about her attendance until it hit 19 days and then it was like all hell broke loose. Where were they at 10 or 12?

Anytime she missed 3 or more days she had a DR excuse and a few times with less than 3, as I said we had submitted 10 DR excuses.

I just don't like it when you are presented with what is suppose to be all these ED codes you are violating, listed by sections and they leave out any codes with explanations of valid excuses and other valid reasons for being absent.

Anyway thanks again for the input