Absenteeism and Truancy

Attendance and Truancy

Compulsory School Attendance

Regular school attendance is required. Each day is planned for sequential learning and missing class time will cause your child to miss part of the learning process. Students arriving after 8:15 will be counted as tardy. Parents/guardians must sign in/out students arriving after 8:15 or leaving prior to 3:15.

If your child is well, he/she should be in school. If he/she is ill, he/she should be kept home. DO NOT send a student to school if he/she has had a fever within the past 24 hours. The student must be fever free without the aid of any fever reducing medication for 24 hours before returning to school.

If you know in advance of a family situation or commitment that necessitates your student being absent from school, arrangements must be made in advance with the school office. This requires the dates of the absence, reason for the request, and approval of the school principal to receive an excused absence and credit for make-up work. Future assignments, when possible, will be sent home with the student and should be completed before the student returns to school.

This attendance and truancy policy applies to individuals who have custody or control of a child: (a) between the ages of six (on or before September 1) and 17 years (unless the child has graduated from 8th grade), or (b) who is enrolled in any of grades kindergarten through 8 in the school regardless of age.

The parent/guardian of a student who is enrolled must authorize all absences from school and notify the school in advance or at the time of the student’s absence. A valid cause for absence includes:

  • illness (including mental or behavioral health of the student),

  • observance of a religious holiday,

  • death in the immediate family,

  • family emergency,

  • other situations beyond the control of the student as determined by the Board,

  • other circumstances that cause reasonable concern to the parent/guardian for the student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or safety, or other reason as approved by the Principal or designee.

Students absent for a valid cause may make up missed homework and classwork assignments in a reasonable timeframe.

Truancy is defined as absence without valid cause for one or more periods of the student’s school day. A truant absence is an unexcused absence. After the 9th school day (5% of regular attendance days) on which a student is absent without valid cause, he/she is deemed to be truant under Illinois law. Interventions to address truancy may include attendance letters, parent/guardian conferences, and/or involvement of the Clinton County Truancy officers and/or local law enforcement. No punitive action, including out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, or court action will be taken against a chronically truant student unless available support services and other school resources have been provided to the student, or offered to the student and refused.

Absenteeism and Truancy Program

The Principal or designee shall manage an absenteeism and truancy program in accordance with the School Code and School Board policy. The program shall include but not be limited to:

  • A protocol for excusing a student from attendance on a particular day(s) or at a particular time of day when his/her parent/guardian is an active-duty member of the uniformed services and has been called to duty for, is on leave from, or has immediately returned from deployment to a combat zone or combat-support postings.

  • A process to telephone, within two hours after the first class, the parents/guardians of students in grade 8 or below who are absent without prior parent/guardian notification.

  • A process to identify and track students who are truants, chronic or habitual truants, or truant minors as defined in 105 ILCS 5/26-2a.

  • A description of diagnostic procedures for identifying the cause(s) of a student’s unexcused absenteeism, including interviews with the student, his or her parent(s)/guardian(s), and staff members or other people who may have information about the reasons for the student’s attendance problem.

  • The identification of supportive services that may be offered to truant, chronically truant, or chronically absent students, including parent-teacher conferences, student and/or family counseling, or information about community agency services. See Board policy 6:110, Programs for Students At Risk of Academic Failure and/or Dropping Out of School and Graduation Incentives Program.

  • A process for the collection and review of chronic absence data and to:

    • Determine what systems of support and resources are needed to engage chronically absent students and their families, and

    • Encourage the habit of daily attendance and promote success.

  • Reasonable efforts to provide ongoing professional development to teachers, administrators, Board members, school resource officers, and staff on the appropriate and available supportive services for the promotion of student attendance and engagement.

  • A process to request the assistance and resources of outside agencies, such as, the juvenile officer of the local police department or the truant office of the appropriate Regional Office of Education, if truancy continues after supportive services have been offered.

  • A protocol for cooperating with non-District agencies including County or municipal authorities, the Regional Superintendent, truant officers, the Community Truancy Review Board, and a comprehensive community-based youth service agency. Any disclosure of school student records must be consistent with Board policy, Student Records, as well as State and federal law concerning school student records.

  • An acknowledgement that no punitive action, including out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, or court action, shall be taken against a truant minor for his or her truancy unless available supportive services and other school resources have been provided to the student.

  • The criteria to determine whether a student’s non-attendance is due to extraordinary circumstances shall include economic or medical necessity or family hardship and such other criteria that the Principal believes qualifies.

LEGAL REF.: 105 ILCS 5/26-1 through 18. 705 ILCS 405/3-33.5, Juvenile Court Act of 1987. 23 Ill.Admin.Code §§1.242 and 1.290. CROSS REF.: 5:100 (Staff Development Program), 6:110 (Programs for Students At Risk of Academic Failure and/or Dropping Out of School and Graduation Incentives Program), 6:150 (Home and Hospital Instruction), 7:10 (Equal Educational Opportunities), 7:50 (School Admissions and Student Transfers To and From Non-District Schools), 7:60 (Residence), 7:80 (Release Time for Religious Instruction/Observance), 7:190 (Student Behavior), 7:340 (Student Records)

Adopted: January 11, 2023