What's Compulsory School Attendance?
We all know that being in school and learning is important. The knowledge students gain is important for success in life, and the social interactions with people their own age is important for learning to live in society.
What we don't think about often is that children ages 6-18 are required, by Wisconsin Law, to be at school for the entire school day.
Common reasons for student to miss school: - Students are allowed, by law, to miss 10 days of school in a year.
- Students who miss due to an illness are excused from school if they have a
medical providers' note (with a note, you don't use any of those 10 days. Calling your child in sick is not enough to count as a medically excused day).
After a student has missed five days, parents receive a courtesy letter from the school, and a second letter after 10 days have been missed.
If more absences are recorded, meetings with parents are held to ensure their student comes to school. Continued absences could mean citations from police or other legal action.
Children thrive with routine and clear guidelines -- if your student is struggling with attendance, please contact your school principal or school counselor to start a conversation about attendance.
You can read more about absences here.School Board Policy on AttendanceElementary Letter Regarding Attendance