Ohio parents might get more calls about their student's missed school days this year.
That's because of changes in state law that activate the "chronically absent" label – or missing 10% of instructional time for any purpose, including excused and unexcused absences, like doctors appointments and staying home due to weather, respectively.
So, more absences will be monitored by schools, and parents can expect to be contacted more frequently about those absences. The idea is to inform parents of their student's absences earlier and intervene if the student needs more support to get to school.
While both excused and unexcused absences have always been used to calculate chronic absenteeism, the legislative changes made in last year's state budget require
districts to respond to attendance issues sooner. The law also does away with the "excessively absent" label schools once reserved for students who reached a certain amount of unexcused or nonmedically excused absences.
In short: Even medically excused absences now count toward the attendance thresholds that trigger school intervention. And parents can expect to hear from their district if their student misses as few as two or three days of school a month.
"We need families to understand that when they go on college visits or if there's inclement weather … even that contributes to chronic absenteeism if that child does not come to school," Cincinnati Public Schools Superintendent Shauna Murphy said.
Some districts have been notifying parents directly about the change. Mount Healthy City Schools posted an Aug. 13 notice on its website asserting that "every minute counts" and absent students can easily fall behind. Forest Hills also posted a notice outlining the changes effective Aug. 1.
Mason City Schools told The Enquirer it notified parents in two separate newsletters, telling parents that, starting this year, families will receive a letter from the district after a student accumulates nine absences, excused or unexcused.
Other districts, including Cincinnati Public Schools and Fairfield City Schools, have updated student handbooks with new policies but have not posted separate notices on their websites.
Murphy said the district communicates attendance expectations through a handbook sent to every household.
"So we will continue to do our best to communicate the importance of attending school every single day," she said during an Aug. 18 back-to-school press conference.
Here's a breakdown of what parents should know about the altered legislation, including whether truancy laws are impacted.
What will actually change for parents?
A major change parents might see under the new law is hearing from their district sooner about their student's absences.
Before the change, schools had to notify parents when a student missed 38 hours of class in a month, about six school days, or 65 hours in a school year, about 11 days. Absences excused for nonmedical reasons, such as a religious holiday or a college visit, and unexcused absences counted toward those missed hours.
Now, districts must notify parents when a student has missed 5% of instructional hours for any reason. For students in through sixth grade, that equates to about 45 hours, or seven and a half days of school. For grades 7-12, that amounts to 50 hours, or about eight days.
The shift reflects a trend in recent years toward decriminalizing missing school, CPS General Counsel Dan Hoying said.
By asking schools to intervene sooner, there's a hope that the school can offer the supports to combat that student's absenteeism, making juvenile court intervention for truancy "an absolute last resort," Hoying said.
That approach is spelled out in CPS' revamped attendance policy. Adjusted in April, the new policy provides three tiers of supports for absent students, starting with universal communication to all families about the importance of attending school. The final tier involves intensive, individualized help, like helping a student find stable housing or work through a mental health crisis.
Has the definition of truancy changed?
The definition of habitual truancy has not changed.
State law determines habitual truancy by whether a student meets the following number of unexcused absences:
- 30 or more consecutive hours (about five school days).
- 42 or more hours per month (about seven school days).
- 72 or more hours per year (about 12 school days).
The requirements to file truancy complaints in juvenile courts also remain unchanged. But the new law required schools to adopt a policy by Aug. 1 developed alongside their county juvenile court that establishes early interventions to confront root causes of absences.
Districts can still choose not to file a court complaint if it's determined the student has made "satisfactory progress" toward improving attendance. What exactly constitutes satisfactory progress varies from district to district.
How will this affect schools' chronic absenteeism rates?
The actual math behind the way chronic absenteeism is calculated districtwide hasn't changed.
In determining rates of chronic absenteeism for its yearly school report cards, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce counts a student's hours missed for any reason divided by the total of enrolled hours to determine a student's absence rate. If that rate exceeds 10%, the student is considered chronically absent.
Districts see the new law as an opportunity to better educate their families on the realities of chronic absenteeism, which has been rising in CPS and other districts.
The issue of inclement weather becomes especially tricky when considering how to lower chronic absenteeism rates while continuing to serve vulnerable families, Hoying explained.
Unlike other districts, CPS's buildings serve students who may not otherwise get a hot meal that day. But opting to keep school open during heavy snow means a greater chance of parents keeping their kids home, which inflates chronic absenteeism rates.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why parents might get more calls about student's attendance this year
