This is about Middle School and Absenteeism

blossom
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 09:42:43 +0000

"Since I’m unwilling to pay for an office visit for a kid with an obviously self-limiting illness, my solution would be to send my kid to school sick and let them send her back home. Or, if she was sick enough that that was impractical, call the school and tell them that that was my plan.

I agree that it’s a standard letter, but people who sent out standardized letters deserve the consequences thereof."

I cannot imagine a more obnoxious response than this.

Frequent truancy is an early warning signs of a host of terrible things going on in a home. Look at any notorious case of child abuse for example- there is a hue and a cry when someone pulls the kids attendance records and realizes that the kid had missed X number of days of school without any documentation as to why.

Nobody is targeting your kid. Dial it back. Call the school and tell them that you are all on the same page- trying to figure out a way for your D to stay healthy, keep up academically, and not endanger staff or other kids by coming to school when she’s ill.

They will be happy with a blanket note from your doctor’s office (signed with an autopen no doubt) that explains the previous absences, and another one in June to cover all the absences this coming semester.

There’s no hidden agenda here- kids with frequent and unexplained absences are statistically more likely to have other bad things going on in their lives. That doesn’t mean you are a bad parent or that your D is being abused or that anyone is questioning your right to keep your D home when she has a cold.