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Maine RSU 21

Maine Regional School Unit 21

Arundel · Kennebunk · Kennebunkport

JE - STUDENT ATTENANCE

  • Section J: Students

JE - STUDENT ATTENDANCE

(STUDENT ATTENDANCE, CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM, AND TRUANCY)

The Board recognizes that regular school attendance is essential to student learning and achievement. Because the process of education depends on sequential exposure to subject matter, continuity of instruction, and class participation, absence from school is detrimental to student learning. The interaction of students with the teacher and with other students contributes to mastery of content, critical thinking, and development of effective communication and social skills. Additionally, the class and school may suffer when the full complement of students is not present. If students do not attend school regularly, particularly in their younger years, they miss out on developing foundational reading and math skills, increasing their risk of falling further behind their peers, along with the chance to build a habit of reliable attendance that will carry them through their elementary and secondary years and into college and careers.

A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

The Board believes that responsibility for maintaining regular student attendance is a shared responsibility of parents, students, and schools.

Parents are expected to ensure that their children arrive at school each day on time, remain in school for the full day, and attend school consistently throughout the year.

Students are expected to attend school every day, arrive at school and to each class on time, and remain in school until the end of the school day.

As for the school district’s role, the Board recognizes that schools may need to be more engaged in identifying parent and student barriers to regular attendance and employing a variety of strategies to increase student attendance. A commitment to increasing student attendance will contribute to providing students an equitable opportunity to learn and grow academically, emotionally, and socially.

MONITORING STUDENT ATTENDANCE

The Board expects the Superintendent to monitor and ensure:

  • Review of individual student attendance records, especially those of students receiving Tier 2 supports to determine whether the student’s pattern of absenteeism suggests they may benefit from additional or more intense assistance from the attendance review team, referral to the school’s student assistance team or other intervention to prevent or remediate chronic absenteeism and to reduce the risk of academic failure; and
  • At the school level, review of attendance data at various intervals during the school year to calculate the rate of absenteeism to determine whether there are patterns emerging that indicate that chronic absenteeism (as defined in the next section of this policy) is becoming, or is a problem.

An individual student is considered chronically absent if they have missed 10% or more school days in the current school year, including both excused and unexcused absences.

At any point during the school year, the rate of absenteeism at that school can be calculated by dividing the total number of absent students at the school by the number of students enrolled in the school, expressed as a percentage.

ADDRESSING CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM 

The Board is aware that student attendance is related to accountability under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). ESSA requires that each state select an accountability measurement (“indicator”), “of school quality or student success” in addition to the four academic indicators specifically required by ESSA. Maine has chosen the measure of chronic absenteeism (the rate of absenteeism) as its fifth indicator.

A student is defined as chronically absent if enrolled for a minimum of ten (10) days and absent for 10% or more of the days enrolled. All absences (excused, unexcused, and those due to suspension) are used to make this determination.

For the purpose of ESSA reporting, the rate of absenteeism at the school level is calculated by dividing the total number of chronically absent students for a school in the previous school year by the number of students enrolled in that school for that school year, expressed as a percentage.

The rate of absenteeism at the district level is calculated by dividing the total number of chronically absent students under the jurisdiction of the school district in the previous school year by the total number of students under the jurisdiction of that school district for that year, expressed as a percentage.

Maine law ( 20-A MRSA § 5171) requires the establishment of an attendance review team to review chronic absence for the school district if:

  1. The school unit (as a whole) has a chronic absenteeism rate of 10% or higher;
  2. The school unit has under its jurisdiction a school with a chronic absenteeism rate of 15% or more;
  3. The school unit has under its jurisdiction more than one school with a school chronic absenteeism rate of 15% or higher; or
  4. The school unit (as a whole) has a chronic absenteeism rate of 10% or higher and has one or more schools under its jurisdiction with a chronic absenteeism rate of 15% or higher.

The Superintendent/designee will be responsible for appointing members to the attendance review team. The attendance review team may include school administrators, guidance counselors, school counselors, school social workers, and teachers.

The attendance review team is responsible for reviewing the cases of chronically absent or truant students, discussing school interventions and referrals for such students, and making additional recommendations for such students and their parents.

BEYOND CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM: TAKING A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO IMPROVING STUDENT ATTENDANCE

The Board believes that students, their parents, and the schools themselves are best served when the school district and the schools within it take a systemic, positive, and active approach to improving student attendance. This includes:

  1. Monitoring student attendance to collect data and detect trends and barriers to attendance;
  2. Clearly explaining expectations, rules, and procedures related to student attendance, emphasizing the relationship between consistent attendance and student success; how parents should report student absences; the potential academic consequences of excessive absenteeism; the making up of tests, quizzes, and other work missed during excused and unexcused absences; and the potential disciplinary consequences for unexcused absences;
  3. Promoting a culture of attendance and incentivizing, recognizing, and rewarding good attendance;
  4. Ensuring that schools are safe, supportive, and welcoming to all students;
  5. Organizing and supporting parent groups and opportunities to visit and volunteer in the schools;
  6. Building engagement and strengthening relationships with families through personalized outreach/communication;
  7. Instituting programs that promote daily attendance (e.g., school breakfast programs, “walking school bus,” and extended before and after-school activities);
  8. Connecting with community programs that offer after-school activities;
  9. Identifying barriers to school attendance (e.g., transportation issues, lack of suitable or clean clothing) and finding innovative ways to surmount them;
  10. Engaging with community organizations and resources to expand the “safety net” for students who need referrals to health, dental, and mental health care, and for parents who have limited English and/or literacy skills, or who experience difficulties in meeting their children’s basic needs for various reasons (e.g., food insecurity, lack of consistent housing, mental health, and substance abuse/misuse).

The Superintendent/designees(s) will be responsible for establishing such committees as they deem necessary or desirable to facilitate the development of a comprehensive approach to school attendance.

ATTENDANCE COORDINATORS

In accordance with Maine law, the Superintendent shall appoint one or more attendance coordinators. An attendance coordinator must be a professionally certified or registered person in the mental health, social welfare, or educational system who is qualified to carry out the duties of an attendance coordinator in accordance with such rules as may be developed by the State Board of Education.

The duties of the attendance coordinator include, but are not limited to:

  1. Interviewing a student whose attendance is irregular and meeting with the student and the parents to determine the cause of the irregular attendance and filing a written report with the principal;
  2. Filing an annual report with the Superintendent summarizing school year activities, findings, and recommendations regarding truants;
  3. Serving as a member of the dropout prevention committee; and
  4. Serving as the liaison between the school and the local law enforcement agency in matters pertaining to student absenteeism under Maine law.

TRUANCY

Despite the school district’s best efforts to discourage unexcused absences, there may be some students who will be identified as being truant under Maine’s truancy statute (20-A MRSA § 5051-A). The district shall abide by the requirements of the RSU 21 Truancy Policy JHB. 

Legal Reference: 20-A MRSA §§ 5001-A, 5051-A, 5171; 22 MRSA § 4002

Cross Reference: JEA/Compulsory Attendance

JLF/Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect

JHB Truancy

Adopted: 10/21/2024