Is Your Child’s Absence Legal?

School is not an option. I wish it was because my littlest one will go to school next year. I’d keep him home forever if I could. But I can’t. School is not an option, it is mandatory. All children who are five years of age before a certain month of this year will have to go to school in the Fall. I think it’s November. For example, my little one will be five in June. That means he has to be enrolled for school for the school year 2009-2010. If he were to be turning five after November of 2009 then he’d not have to be enrolled until the next school year.

When school is mandatory and not an option it means parents have to send their children and children have to attend. Missing school is never a good thing for a variety of reasons. It is very important for children to be in school every day in order for them to be caught up with learning material, assignments, notes, etc.

When a child does not go to school they are considered absent. All absences are documented and recorded. An excuse will have to be presented to the school to validate the absence, to give cause for it. There are two types of absences, legal, and illegal.

A legal absence is when your child is absent for a good and legal reason. A child who has vomited cannot go to school for twenty four hours after the last time they were sick. A child who has a fever cannot go to school until they have been fever free for twenty four hours. A child with an infectious or contagious virus or illness cannot go to school until cleared by a doctor. A child with head lice cannot go to school until deemed lice free by a doctor. Also, a child with diarrhea should not attend school.

Other legal absences are those such as missing time for a doctors appointment, a dentist appointment, etc. These appointments should be made at a time of day that allows the child to at least attend school for half of the day. Family emergencies also are considered a legal reason for being absent, as are court dates.

If there is a true need to be absent the absence will not be held against you and will be considered a legal absence. If there is not a good reason to keep your child out of school and you do so anyway the absence will be considered an illegal absence by the school. Too many illegal absences will get you into a whole world of trouble and you could likely be charged with education neglect.

An illegal absence is when you keep your child home to go shopping, or to have a fun day. Keeping your child home simply because you want to is also considered an illegal absence. If your child misses the bus and you choose not to bring them to school they will have an illegal absence marked against them. Likewise, if your child just doesn’t want to go to school for whatever reason and you allow them to stay home the absence will be considered illegal.

School and education are very important. Our child need to attend school regularly to do well in school, and then in life. Sometimes children need to miss school either because they are ill, or because of an appointment or what have you. Keeping your child home when there is not a good reason is just not okay. Thanks for reading and take care!