truancy

[kidzcare]

I was wondering who handles truancy in your schools? I handle every single aspect of it at my school and that seems significantly above my pay grade. It's more of an administrative task.

Just curious how it is handled in other districts?

[kidzcare]

The other piece is, we are supposed be an ally for the family, and if you get into a tug of war with a parent over attendance, you lose that connection. Nothing like alienating a kid or parent when the kid gets busted for truancy.

Oh, yes. They are not happy to get the letter that says their kid has been gone too much. And even thought there are 3 names besides mine on the letter, all the calls get sent to my office.

[SchoolNurseTXstyle]

With 1300+ kids on my campus, there would not be enough hours in the day for me to handle truancy!! To the OP - bless your heart!!!

[AdobeRN]

We have a data clerk that handles the attendance issues - reports are run weekly, notices are sent out to those that go over the min amount allowed to miss; once the notices go out the AP handles the rest and will send them on to truancy court if needed.

I only get involved if there is a question whether the kid left thru my office - When I send kids home I send a quick email to the data clerk with kids name, grade, home & reason in the subject line just so she knows who is a nurse sent home (excused) or leave early per parent for whatever reason.

It gets messy for me once the kid has gone to court - at that time absences & tardies are not excused unless doctors note or I send them home, parent notes are no longer acceptable.

[RatherBHiking, BSN, RN]

I don't understand why you are expected to do this. This is not a health issue. Was this on your list of responsibilities when you were hired? I would never have agreed to begin doing this unless it was made clear that was part of my job when hired. Are you part of a union? Maybe something like that could help you either get that lifted off your duties or allow more pay. The only time any nurses in our district get involved is if they absences have something to do with a health issue like lice, diabetes, flu, etc. I don't know how you have the time either! Our administrators take care of this and any issues are forwarded to our truant officer.