Sparta Board of Education Amends Attendance Policy

SPARTA, NJ – The board of education is moving to update the attendance policy to reflect recent changes in state statute. Policy 5200 “Attendance " is being amended to change the definition of an “excused absence.”

The student must provide a “doctor’s note” or one from the dentist, proving there was an appointment for the absence to be excused. The change eliminates “student’s illness supported by notification to the school by the student’s parent” as an unexcused absence.

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A parent’s call to the school  no longer counts as an excused absence.

Unchanged in the Policy

Parents are still required to notify the school if their student will not be attending or if they are leaving early. The school is required to verify a student’s absence if the parents have not notified the school.

The policy still requires the school to provide assignments for students who will be absent for three days or more.  Parents are responsible for requesting missed assignments and assistance with those assignments.  Students are responsible for making up missed work, within a “reasonable amount of time as determined by the teacher.”

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A high school student may be dropped from a class or denied credit if they miss 16 or more class sessions, unless the absences are excused.

An elementary student, grades pre-K to eight, can be held back if they miss 10% or more school days.

Students in New Jersey public schools are required to attend a minimum of 90% of the 180 school days.  Any student with 10% or more missed days are considered “chronically absent.”

A school day must be no less than four hours, exclusive of recess and lunch periods, according to the policy, based on state statute.  For the student to get credit for attending the day of school they must be present and “participate in instruction for at least half a day in session.”

A student participating in an approved off-site event or instruction can receive credit for the day.

What is an Excused Absence:

State excused absences include:

• Religious observance – an annual list prescribing religious holidays is approved by the New Jersey Education Commissioner as approved by the state board of education. A parent must sent a note requesting the absence be excused.
• Participation in observance of Veterans Day
• Participation in district board of election membership activities
• Take Our Children to Work Day
• College visits – up to three per year for students in grades 11 and 12.
• Closure of a busing school district preventing a student from having transportation to the receiving school.

Additional reasons a student may have an excused absence, according to the policy:

• Required attendance in court,
• Death in the immediate family
• An Individualized Education Program or IEP
• A student’s unexcused absences are “counted towards truancy.”
• Suspension from school
• Interviews with a prospective employer or with a college admissions officer
• Driver’s license test
• Doctor or dentist appointments that are “necessary and unavoidable.” The student must now show proof of the appointment to have the absence recorded as excused.

Truancy

According to the policy, a student is considered truant if they have

• Four consecutive unexcused absences
• Five to nine cumulative unexcused absences

If there are 10 or more unexcused absences, the school principal may make a referral to the courts.  There are several other possible actions available to the principal to work with parents to have the children attend school according to the policy.

Home instruction due to chronic health conditions are addressed in Policy 2412.

This policy was last amended on March 16, 2023.  The policy needs a second reading before the change in unexcused absences is the official standard.

The next board of education meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 22 at 7 p.m. in the Mohawk Avenue School.

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