Trigg County Schools and its allegedly rigid attendance policy came into question Thursday night, when local parent and long-time educator Donna Jo Williams addressed Board of Education members about the difficulties maintaining the current Wildcats standard.
After receiving her daughter’s report card this past week, Williams said there were two absences, two tardies, and a reminder that five notes — or half the allotment — had already been used before November 1.
For a variety of reasons, including a funeral, permit tests, health and wellness and similar concerns, Williams gave the following timeline:
— A check-in at 10:09, considered a tardy, and excuse 1;
— A check-in at 12:56, considered a full-day absence, something she thought should’ve been a half-day, and excuse 2;
— A check-out at 10:33 and back in at 11:07, considered a tardy, and excuse 3;
— A check-out at 10:28, considered absent and excuse 4;
— And one entire absence.
Conversations with board member Charlene Sheehan led to discussions with Director of Pupil Personnel James Mangels, who she said described everything as “an event.” As of Thursday morning, proper re-coding had altered the attendance on her daughter’s record.
In the mean time, Williams said she has contacted Rhonda Devine at the Kentucky Department of Education for clarifications.
Williams further noted that the attendance policy was impacting her child’s potential success, and that it essentially would be easier to send kids to school sick, only to have them returned home by order of a school nurse in order to save on absences, events and notes.
Jacey Holmes and Sadie Utter, two senior representatives for the Voice of the Wildcats, were giving their own presentation on the semester — when Sheehan asked their student opinion on the attendance matter.
Holmes said some teachers have taken matters to an extreme.
Utter, meanwhile, said she didn’t know everyone’s circumstances, but that it had helped her with time management skills.
Sheehan, Superintendent Bill Thorpe and Board Attorney Jack Lackey Jr. followed, saying that was misinformation.
Mangels, meanwhile, defended the school’s policy — but did note that it was time to offer more public information in order to clarify the rules and acknowledgments of tardies and absenteeism.
Sheehan identified that SEEK funding and average daily attendance are factors, but not the main ones.
Trigg County’s Attendance Policy is on page 26 of the 2023-24 publicly-available Code of Conduct, and, in short, states the following measures:
— Any student who has been absent from school without a valid excuse for three days or more, or tardy without a valid excuse on three days or more, is truant.
— Any student who has been reported as truant two, or more, times is a habitual truant.
— Absences are calculated on a percentage basis. If a student misses less than 35% of a school day, they are considered tardy. If a pupil misses 35%, or more, of a school day, they will be considered absent.
— Absences will be excused for up to 10 notes per year, and students will be granted excused absences for up to 10 school days in order to pursue “educational enhancement opportunities” determined by school officials.
— Personal notifications will arrive, in various forms, after the third and fifth days of unexcused absences and/or a tardy. Upon the sixth day, the district can initiate a legal petition against the parent/guardian for potential civil action.
These policies are direct copies of state laws written and codified by the Kentucky General Assembly: 702 KAR 7:125, KRS 159.010 and KRS 159.150.
The only latitude offered to Trigg County officials is that local boards of education have the right to determine what constitutes an excused, or unexcused, absence.
LAWS
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=43959
