Board Attendance Policy

When a parent, guardian, or other person having care of a student has failed to initiate a telephone call or other communication notifying the school or building administration of the student's excused or unexcused absence within 120 minutes after the beginning of the school day, the attendance officer or designee for each school building shall make at least one (1) attempt to contact the parent, guardian, or other person having care of any student who is recorded as absent without legitimate excuse within 120 minutes after the beginning of each school day by a method designated by the Superintendent in accordance with Ohio law (see AG 5200).

When a student of compulsory school age is absent from school with combined nonmedical excused absences and unexcused absences in excess of thirty-eight (38) or more hours in one (1) school month, or sixty-five (65) or more hours in a school year, that student is considered excessively absent from school. Religious expression days that have been approved by the Principal in accordance with this policy will not be considered for the purpose of determining whether a student is excessively absent. The District or school shall notify the child's parent or guardian of the child's absences, in writing, within seven (7) school days after the date of the absence that triggered the notice requirement. At the same time written notice is given, any appropriate intervention action listed herein may be taken.

A student may have an excused absence for medical reasons, such as personal illness or medical visit, subject to the following rules. A student may have up to ten (10) medically excused absences without a doctor’s note, but with a phone call from a parent/guardian. This policy will be extended beyond ten (10 ) days if the student or someone in the student’s family is in quarantine due to a recognized pandemic/epidemic (e.g., COVID-19) or experiencing symptoms of the pandemic/epidemic. A medical excuse for personal illness will be accepted in the form of a doctor’s note within five (5) school days of the absence or parent call-in on the day of the absence due to illness or doctor’s visit.

The following “medical excuses” will not count toward a student’s excessive absence hours: (1) personal illness; (2) illness in the family necessitating the presence of the child; (3) quarantine of the home; (4) health care provider appointments (doctor, dentist, mental health provider, etc.); (5) medically-necessary leave for a pregnant student in accordance with Policy 5751; (6) death in the family; or (7) other set of circumstances the Superintendent deems on a case-by-case basis to be a good and sufficient cause for medical absence from school. 

The Principal will approve up to three (3) religious expression days per school year after receiving a written request from the student's parent or guardian. Religious expression days may be used to take holidays for reasons of faith or religious or spiritual belief system or participate in organized activities conducted under the auspices of a religious denomination, church, or other religious or spiritual organization. Students who are absent on approved religious expression days will not face any academic penalties and will be provided with academic accommodations with regard to examinations and other academic requirements that are missed.

To receive accommodations for religious expression days, parents or guardians must submit written requests to the Principal within fourteen (14) days after the start of the school year or fourteen (14) days after a student is enrolled in the District. The requests must specify the religious expression day(s) to be approved. The Principal will approve the days without inquiring into the sincerity of a student's religious or spiritual belief system. However, the Principal may verify the authenticity of a request by contacting the parent or guardian to confirm they signed it. The Principal may deny the request for religious expression days if the parent or guardian indicates that the signature is not authentic. Once the days have been approved, the Principal will ensure that each teacher schedules a time and date for alternative examinations or other academic requirements that conflict with the student's absence. Students may participate in interscholastic athletics or other extracurricular activities on days in which the student is absent for religious expression.

The District has adopted the following procedure for a student, parent, or guardian to notify the District of any grievance with regard to the implementation of this policy. A grievance must be submitted in writing to the Superintendent. The Superintendent will review the grievance and issue a written determination of whether the policy has been violated. The decision of the Superintendent is final and not subject to further appeal.

The District will notify parents and guardians annually about this policy and the procedures that they must follow to request accommodations for religious expression days.

The policy will be placed in a prominent location on the District's website and will include the contact information for an individual who can provide further information about the policy. The District will also publish a non-exhaustive list of major religious holidays, festivals, and religious observations as published by the State Superintendent for which an absence will not be unreasonably withheld or denied. The list will be provided whenever the policy is posted, printed, or distributed, and will be accompanied by a statement that declares the list is non-exhaustive and may not be used to deny accommodations to a student for a holiday, festival, or observation that is not included in the list. Nothing in this policy, and no inclusion or exclusion of a religious holiday or festival on the list posted by a District, shall preclude a student from full and reasonable accommodations for any sincerely held religious beliefs and practices with regard to all examinations or other academic requirements and absences for reasons of faith or religious or spiritual belief system.

A student will be considered habitually truant if the student is of compulsory school age and absent without a legitimate excuse for thirty (30) or more consecutive hours, for forty-two (42) or more hours in one (1) school month, or for seventy-two (72) or more hours in one (1) school year.

Legitimate excuses for the absence of a student who is otherwise habitually truant include, but are not limited to:

A. the student was enrolled in another school district;
 
B. the student was excused from attendance in accordance with R.C 3321.04; or
 
C. the student has received an age and schooling certificate.
 

To the extent required by law as determined on an annual basis, within ten (10) days of a student becoming habitually truant, the Principal shall assign the student to an absence intervention team.

Within fourteen (14) school days after the assignment of a student to an absence intervention team, the team shall develop an intervention plan for that student in an effort to reduce or eliminate further absences. Each intervention plan shall vary based on the individual needs of the student, but the plan shall state that the attendance officer shall file a complaint not later than sixty-one (61) days after the date the plan was implemented, if the child has refused to participate in, or failed to make satisfactory progress on, the intervention plan. Within seven (7) school days after the development of the plan, reasonable efforts shall be made to provide the student's parent/guardian/custodian, with written notice of the plan.

As part of the absence intervention plan, the Principal may, in their discretion, contact the appropriate juvenile court and ask to have a student informally enrolled in any alternative to adjudication described in R.C. 2151.27(G). 

Each absence intervention team may vary based on the needs of each individual student but shall include a representative from the child's building, another representative from the child's building who knows the child, and the child's parent or parent's designee, or the child's guardian, custodian, guardian ad litem, or temporary custodian. The team also may include a school psychologist, counselor, social worker, or representative of a public or nonprofit agency designed to assist students and their families in reducing absences. 

The members of the absence intervention team shall be selected within seven (7) school days of the student meeting the habitually truant threshold. Within the same period of seven (7) school days, the Principal shall make at least three (3) meaningful, good faith attempts to secure the participation of the student's parent/guardian/custodian, guardian ad litem, or temporary custodian on that team. A good faith attempt to secure the participation of the parent shall include, but not be limited to, contacting (or attempting to contact) the parent by telephone, email, or regular mail. If the student's parent responds to any of those attempts but is unable to participate for any reason, the Principal shall inform the parent of the parent's right to appear by designee. If seven (7) school days elapse and the student's parent/guardian/custodian, guardian ad litem, or temporary custodian fails to respond to the attempts to secure participation, the attendance officer shall investigate whether the failure to respond triggers mandatory abuse or neglect reporting to the public children services agency. At the same time, the absence intervention team shall continue to develop an intervention plan for the child notwithstanding the absence of the child's parent/guardian/custodian, guardian ad litem, or temporary custodian.

In order to address the attendance practices of a student who is habitually truant, the intervention team may, as part of an intervention plan, take any of the following intervention actions:

A. provide counseling to the student
 
B. request or require the student's parent to attend a parental involvement program
 
C. request or require a parent to attend a truancy prevention mediation program
 
D. notify the Registrar of Motor Vehicles of the student's absences
 
E. take appropriate legal action
 
F. assignment to an alternative school (Note: If the District has established an alternative school, it must appear as an alternative intervention strategy.)

In the event that a student becomes habitually truant within twenty-one (21) school days prior to the last day of instruction of a school year, the Principal may, in their discretion, work with the child's parent/guardian/custodian, guardian ad litem, or temporary custodian to develop an absence intervention plan during the summer.

The absence intervention process shall commence upon the first day of instruction of the next school year.

The attendance officer shall file a complaint in the juvenile court against a student on the 61st day after the implementation of an absence intervention plan or other intervention strategies, provided that all of the following apply:

A. The student is habitually truant.
 
B. The school district or school has made meaningful attempts to re-engage the student through the absence intervention plan, other intervention strategies, and any offered alternatives to adjudication, if applicable.
 
C. The student has refused to participate in or failed to make satisfactory progress on the plan, as determined by the absence intervention team, or any offered intervention strategies or alternative to adjudication.
 

If the student, at any time during the implementation phase of the absence intervention plan or other intervention strategies, is absent without legitimate excuse for thirty (30) or more consecutive hours or forty-two (42) or more hours in one (1) school month, the attendance officer shall file a complaint in juvenile court against that student, unless the absence intervention team has determined that the student has made substantial progress on the absence intervention plan.

In the event that the 61st day after the implementation of the absence intervention plan or other intervention strategies falls on a day during the summer months, the Principal may extend the implementation of the plan and delay the filing of the complaint for an additional thirty (30) days from the first day of instruction of the next school year.

The Superintendent is authorized to establish an educational program for parents of truant students which is designed to encourage parents to ensure that their children attend school regularly. Any parent who does not complete the program is to be reported to law enforcement authorities for parental education neglect, a fourth-class misdemeanor if found guilty.

Whenever any student of compulsory school age has sixty (60) consecutive hours in a single month or a total of ninety (90) hours of unexcused absence from school during the school year, the student will be considered habitually absent under R.C. 3321.13(b)(2). The Board authorizes the Superintendent to inform the student and the student's parents, guardian, or custodian of the record of absences without a legitimate excuse as well as the District's intent to notify the Registrar of Motor Vehicles, if appropriate, and the Judge of the Juvenile Court of the student's unexcused absences and habitually absent status.

If a student who is habitually truant violates the order of a juvenile court regarding the student’s prior adjudication as an unruly child for being a habitual truant, the student may further be adjudicated as a delinquent child.

The District shall report to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, as soon as practicable, and in a format and manner determined by the Department, any of the following occurrences:

A. when a notice that a student has been absent with or without legitimate excuse for thirty-eight (38) or more hours in one (1) school month, or sixty-five (65) or more hours in a school year is submitted to a parent/guardian/or custodian;
 
B. when a child of compulsory school age has been absent without legitimate excuse from the public school the child is supposed to attend for thirty (30) or more consecutive hours, forty-two (42) or more hours in one (1) school month, or seventy-two (72) or more hours in a school year;
 
C. when a child of compulsory school age who has been adjudicated an unruly child for being a habitual truant violates the court order regarding that adjudication;
 
D. when an absence intervention plan has been implemented for a child under this policy.
 

This policy was developed after consultation with the judge of the juvenile court of Knox County, with the parents, guardians, or other persons having care of the students attending school in the District, and with appropriate State and local agencies.

Consistent with the District's remote learning plan (e.g., Blended Learning, Online Learning, etc.), the District will provide a variety of instruction models, including both teacher-led remote learning and self-directed remote learning.

Student attendance in teacher-led remote learning (synchronous web-based instruction) shall be tracked in the same manner as hourly, in-person instruction. Teachers shall determine hourly attendance by evidence of student login and logoff data. Teachers are encouraged to verify meaningful attendance in a method selected by the teacher.

In addition to the reasons listed at the beginning of this policy, absences from teacher-led remote learning (synchronous web-based instruction) may be considered excused under the following circumstances:

A. temporary internet outage for individual students or households;
 
B. unexpected technical difficulties for individual students or households, such as password resets or software upgrades occurring during a teacher-led remote learning lesson;
 
C. malfunction of a District-owned device for which the District is providing technical assistance, repair, or replacement.
 

Attendance in self-directed remote learning (asynchronous) shall be tracked by evidence of participation, which may include, but is not limited to:

A. daily logins to learning management systems;
 
B. daily interactions with the teacher to acknowledge attendance which may include, but are not limited to, messages, emails, telephone calls, video chats, or other formats that enable teachers to engage with students; and
 
C. assignment completion.

The teacher will determine the number of hours a typical student would take to complete an assignment and report those hours of attendance when the assignment is completed. A teacher may adjust the number of hours of attendance based on the length of time the student actually spent on the assignment, as reported by the student, parent, or other person with knowledge.