Last week our blog post documented the rise in chronic absenteeism across the country and the responses schools must consider to address such absences from a special education perspective. [TLDR; chronic absenteeism has skyrocketed in both NE and SD, it may implicate child find obligations, and IEP teams should address chronic absenteeism and student placement.] This week Part II focuses on the parents. As we have heard from many school administrators, parent buy-in is crucial; and many times chronic absenteeism is a result of parents being unable to provide the supports necessary to encourage regular attendance for their children. How should schools support parents to reduce chronic absenteeism?
Tool #1 - Research suggests schools that implement an early warning system to identify students who are at risk and provide interventions succeed in reducing chronic absenteeism and drop-out rates. Schools should consider how to create early warning systems that can provide interventions to these students.
Tool #2 - Schools have also used “nudging” successfully to target chronic absenteeism. Essentially, schools send periodic updates to families regarding a student’s attendance and weekly updates on missing assignments. Many schools have experienced greater success by shifting this from email to text messages for these “nudges.”
Tool #3 - Also, don’t forget that SDCL 13-27-14 requires the school board to annually appoint a truancy officer to enforce the compulsory attendance laws within the district. The law also provides grants the truancy officer “the powers of a deputy sheriff in the exercise of the officer’s duties, and shall apprehend without warrant children of compulsory school age who absent themselves from the place where the children are enrolled and required to attend without an excuse, and place the children in the custody of the person having charge of the place where the children are enrolled and by law required to attend.” This law means the school’s truancy officer can go into a student’s house and physically bring the student to school.
Tool #4 - If the student qualifies for special education, both the IDEA and ARSD 24:05:27:16 include “parent counseling and training” as a related service. The student’s IEP team may consider adding counseling and training for the parents which could assist the parents in learning strategies to address behaviors in the home and also interventions to encourage student attendance.
Tool #5 - Related services also include “other supportive services as are required to assist a child with a disability benefit from special education.” If a student who qualifies for special education is not attending school due to school refusal, a related service could include the school psychologist observing the student’s morning routine at home and offering strategies to encourage attendance. ARSD 24:05 also requires schools to ensure evaluations are sufficiently comprehensive to identify all of the child’s special education and related service needs, whether or not link to the child’s disability category.
As we round out the 2023-2024 school year, the summer months are a great time to consider strategies and tools schools can implement in the next school year to address chronic absenteeism. As your school works through these issues, please contact Karen, Steve, Bobby, Coady, Jordan, Tyler, or Sara with any of your questions at 402-804-800 or email us all at ksb@ksbschoollaw.com.