[hikinghiker]

Withdraw deadline for students with excessive absences is today. I have two. One who has missed nearly every day. I've had counselors call, district attendance call, truancy officers, and myself. No responses. I feel no guilt withdrawing that student.

There's another student I have who rarely ever goes to my meets. When I manage to snag parents attention of the rare times she does come, I can see that they have a newborn and are clearly stressed. Parents are receptive, agree to come to class, very kind and understanding of why I'm meeting with them, but no follow through. I chose not to withdraw this student because I know those parents are trying their best. I'm just hoping and praying that girl actually starts to come more otherwise grading is going to be extremely, extremely tough.

Hoping I made the right decision to not withdraw her. I was hoping I'd manage to speak to parents today about the choice I made, hoping that it might inspire them to come more, but she didn't show up this morning. I teach Kinder so a lot of these parents are just keeping their kids enrolled as potential babysitting when we do come back

[GreyhoundGirl]

I think you did. Better safe than sorry. At least you’re giving her a fighting chance. I’m shocked you even have that option.

[klarabelle]

Wow, your lucky you can decide if you should keep a child in school. What happens to the student next year?

[lte's mom]

I have a student who missed the entire first quarter. He logged on for 10 seconds and then not again for 9 weeks. Our counselor said our next move was to involve the law. He's shown up for the last two weeks, but isn't participating.

Our district is bending over backwards to keep the kids enrolled.

[Jennalia]

Our district is bending over backwards to keep the kids enrolled.

So is ours. We teach via Zoom synchronously 4 days a week, then asynchronously 1 day a week. Attendance on the asynchronous day is measured by whether students log in to our LMS to do their work; however, I host a social hour on that day so kids can eat lunch 'together' over Zoom, and just have fun together. I'm told that seeing them in our optional social hour counts as attendance for that day, even if they don't log in to do any work, and I need to notify the office who attends so they can adjust any absences. Thank goodness the students don't know that, or I'd never get any asynchronous work out of them!

[sbslab]

I think you did. It’s a stressful time for everyone. It’s likely the parents are trying their best. They aren’t being mean or upset when you contact them. Could they do more? Certainly. I don’t think the general public truly understands how much actual learning goes on in kindergarten now.

Any kindness we can extend now is sure to be appreciated.

[MalloryJames]

What's the difference between the two kids? I would lose more sleep over the one I had disenrolled than the one I didn't.

[hikinghiker]

The difference is that the first student literally hasn't shown up for weeks. This whole year, she's shown up I think 5 times, all for less than 30 minutes. Parents won't get in contact. In fact, they actually learned my number and the schools numbers and will now hang up on us when we call so we can't even leave a voicemail anymore. For all I know, that student isn't even living in this city anymore. I can't give that student grades, give assessments, anything. That's a big liability. I'm pretty sure all schools have the ability to boot students who don't show up after 20+ continuous absences, thought you might not know if it's admin's decision instead of teachers decisions.

As for what parents do next with the child, I teach Kindergarten so they'll likely just enroll her again next year. Or find a different district/school. They've had plenty of warnings about attendance.

The other student I at least know she's currently living here. She sometimes comes, and parents don't flat out ignore my phone calls.