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.
Louisville City Schools is focusing on absenteeism through the month of September - National Attendance Awareness Month. School leaders are connecting with families about the importance of consistent school attendance.
They are providing families with infographics about changes and the importance of attending class every day. Each family received a magnet to place on the fridge to track a student's attendance.
Many other Stark County districts have provided updated information to their parents through social media and newsletters. District leaders said absenteeism has been significant concern the past few years, with many implementing different ways to combat chronic absenteeism.
Alliance City Schools created a district level attendance team, and every school has a building level team. Their efforts resulted in a significant decrease in absenteeism across the district last year.
"It is a priority ... to have all students in the buildings every single day and our efforts are not changing from what they have been for the past few years," said Shawn Jackson, assistant superintendent. "Data shows missing 10% or more of school significantly impacts learning and social/emotional growth for students."
Here's a breakdown of what parents should know about the altered legislation, including whether truancy laws are impacted.
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, Cincinnati Public Schools 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.
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.
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 some districts.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Ohio changed rules on school absenteeism. Here's what parents need to know