Your Opinion on District Letter re: Absences

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Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.

Hi there school nurse friends,

I have a question for you all working in schools. What are your thoughts about a district letter sent to parents of children who have had more than 10 absences (school year to date) instructing them to send your child to school if they have a stomach ache, are fatigued, temp

Best,

Nurse Beth

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This is constantly monitored by our attendance secretary and letters are sent throughout the year. I definitely think a reminder is sometimes needed!

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Specializes in Home Health,Dialysis, MDS, School Nurse.

Our administration handles this, and sends letters to parents who's children have missed a lot. I don't know what it all says, but I am rarely involved even when its a health related issue.

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That's done by attendance, but it's lip service only.

The LD's stay out if a wind blows their farts the wrong way.

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

I've noticed the letters don't have any effect on those with chronic absenteeism (other than give them another reason to get mad about something), sometimes when the parents are summoned to a truancy hearing, the attendance is better but all in all, no real positive effect.

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I've noticed the letters don't have any effect on those with chronic absenteeism (other than give them another reason to get mad about something), sometimes when the parents are summoned to a truancy hearing, the attendance is better but all in all, no real positive effect.

Absolutely agree.

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Our letters don't tell parents to send kids it feeling mildly I'll symptoms. How about a reminder of the times when to stay home instead?

its always a crappy situation. I'm always checking temps and evaluating because a kids feels warm or was "vomiting all weekend." My favorite is the "Johnny is not acting like himself." We are giving parents a hard time for their kids being absent but then I feel like we have teachers trying to push them out the door.

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Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.
Our letters don't tell parents to send kids it feeling mildly I'll symptoms. How about a reminder of the times when to stay home instead?

its always a crappy situation. I'm always checking temps and evaluating because a kids feels warm or was "vomiting all weekend." My favorite is the "Johnny is not acting like himself." We are giving parents a hard time for their kids being absent but then I feel like we have teachers trying to push them out the door.

Hard spot...I was thinking if the district advised a parent to send a kid to school with a stomachache that it could be a liability for the school if it turned into something serious.
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Specializes in School nursing.
Our letters don't tell parents to send kids it feeling mildly I'll symptoms. How about a reminder of the times when to stay home instead?

its always a crappy situation. I'm always checking temps and evaluating because a kids feels warm or was "vomiting all weekend." My favorite is the "Johnny is not acting like himself." We are giving parents a hard time for their kids being absent but then I feel like we have teachers trying to push them out the door.

True. Then the same teachers complain that the student has been absent too much and it feels like a never-ending circle.

But for the kiddos that are chronically sick but not sick enough to see the doctor? I have a few of those. Poor kid send to school with diarrhea that had the student making trips to bathroom every 20 minutes. Kid was just miserable. Talked to parent who wanted to keep student home, but got the letter about said student having more than 10 unexcused absences. I told parent to take the kid to his doctor and see if a note could be written for an absence(s) that were necessary.

And I do send out a reminder of when to keep kids home at the beginning of the year. But when those letters go home...

...of course little Johnny may not have more than 10 unexcused absences if you don't already pull him for a week earlier that year to go to Disney when the crowds were low... :whistling:

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The teachers and guidance counselor sends out missed day letters when there's a risk of non-credit status. They don't recommend sending the students to school sick (I agree with the liability issues with that!). But, they also talk to the parents usually, and explain that if the absences are due to medical issues, non-credit status can be appealed, and usually is as long as the student is passing.

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Specializes in IMC, school nursing.

Timely, I am compiling my list of LD's with > 15 days (that's 3 weeks!) and it is 12.5% of my students. We call and talk to the parents, then enforce unexcused, no make up work. Once grades are affected, they seem to make it.

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We send out letters for >10% days missed. The principal will hand me the stack of them and I pull any of them with legit medical reasons to be missing school. If there is a reason (tonsils out, missed 5 days in a row for strep, diabetic issues, ect.) then the principal sends a "please write an excuse for the following days, so that we can change the days missed to excused absences" letter. There's only ever been one situation where we asked that a parent send their kid to school, sick or not, but CPS was involved in that one.

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