Attendance, Absenteeism, and Truancy

• Building student attends will send notice by email to the Story County Attorney’s Office.
• Building student attends will notify the student, or if a minor, the student’s parent or guardian via certified mail that includes an attendance report detailing absences from school and the policies and disciplinary processes associated with additional absences.
• Iowa law requires missed days due to trips and vacations to count toward calculations of chronic absenteeism and truancy.

• The school will initiate a school engagement meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to identify attendance barriers and determine a plan to make improvements.
• During this meeting, participants will create and sign an absenteeism prevention plan detailing the causes of absences and each participant’s responsibilities. The school will monitor compliance with the plan, contacting participants weekly.
• If the student and the student’s parent/guardian do not attend the meeting, do not enter into a plan or violate the terms of the plan, the school official will notify the county attorney.
• The district will send a copy of the “Absenteeism Prevention Plan” via ParentSquare. This will be a working document to address expectations moving forward.
• This includes all absences – excused and unexcused.

• Truancy means a child of compulsory attendance age who is absent from school for any reason for at least 20% of the hours in the trimester/semester.
• If the student and the student’s parent/guardian violate the terms of the “Absenteeism Prevention Plan”, the school official will notify the county attorney.
• This includes all absences – excused and unexcused.
• The county attorney retains prosecutorial discretion in determining whether or not an action will be pursued in Truancy Court.

Senate File 2435 is a law and as such, the District is required to comply. In follow up to the passing of code, the Iowa Department of Education provided guidance to school districts in Iowa in August. We wrote our policies to be in compliance with these expectations.

We realize absences can sometimes be out of our control. That being said, there are legal requirements that we must follow. Extended sickness, hospital stays and loss of loved ones – can all impact our school attendance. If any of these scenarios arise, please work with the administration at the building your student attends.

We will allow two incidents of health-related excused absences in a term (i.e., flu, fever). More than two incidents in any term may require documentation throughout the remainder of the term in order to be excused.

Parents/guardians are expected to notify the school office to report a student’s absence prior to the start of the school day. Parents can notify the school office in one of the following three ways:

1. Call the Building Office
2. Report the absence using Infinite Campus
   1. Log in to your Infinite Campus Parent Portal account 
   2. Click “More” from the left navigation menu 
   3. Select “Absence Request”. 
   4. Complete the form and submit.

ParentSquare should not be used to report absences.

Students participating in school-sponsored activities and athletics, field trips and work-based learning experiences through an assigned course will be considered present. These will not count against any of the thresholds mentioned above.

Families are encouraged to schedule vacations and trips when school is not in session. Family trips and vacations are not considered excused absences per Iowa Code. We recognize that these do occur, however, so please communicate proactively to allow us to work with your student to complete school work. These absences will count towards a student being considered chronically absent or truant. 

Children who are at least six years old and under age sixteen by September 15 are of compulsory attendance age. Compulsory attendance age also includes:

• Students who are 4 years old and are enrolled in preschool.  
• Students who are 5 years old and are enrolled in kindergarten.

The provisions of the law apply to this group in terms of communication with the County Attorney, design of plans, etc. However, the District is required to report the attendance to the state for all students enrolled regardless of age.

An excused absence means the school has determined the absence reason is legitimate and will not impose any school-based disciplinary action. An exempt absence means the absence is exempted from the Iowa Code and will not be counted toward the chronic absenteeism law.

Please note – an absence can be excused by the school but not exempt by the state and will still count toward the student’s 10% in a term in accordance with Iowa Code.

Per Iowa Code and Iowa Department of Education guidance, students on college visits will be counted as “present.”

Funerals are exempt per SF 2435 and may include holiday services, weddings, funerals and other celebrations of life, and other rite of passage religious services.

If a family is leaving the country, they would need to be unenrolled during the time period for which they are gone. Once the family returns, the enrollment can be resumed but do know it may not be at the same school nor with the same teacher. Please speak with your building principal if this situation applies to your family.

Any absence from school for longer than 2 weeks that is not a long-term medical absence would be unenrolled during the time period for which the student is gone. Again, once the family returns, the enrollment can be resumed but do know it may not be at the same school nor with the same teacher. Please speak with your building principal if this situation applies to your family.

Students who are absent from school for religious service, holiday, or instruction will be considered absent, but will be considered excused and exempt from chronic absenteeism laws.

With a doctor’s note, this would be considered a medically exempt absence. A medically exempt absence will still be recorded as an absence but will be excused and exempt from chronic absenteeism laws.

It may be possible for recurring doctor appointments to be outlined with one note. Please speak with a building administrator regarding your specific situation.

You can see your student’s attendance record by logging into your Infinite Campus Parent Portal. Your student’s absences are located under Attendance. At the bottom of this page is a list of absence codes and what they mean.

The percentage is calculated based on the total number of days in a term and is not rolling. As an example, to reach 10% in a term:

• PK & Elementary (grades K-5) = 5 days missed in a term
• Secondary (grades 6-12) = 8 days missed in a term