House Bill (HB) 410 counts attendance as the number of hours a student misses. Students will be considered habitually truant when they miss:
- 30 or more consecutive hours without a legitimate excuse
- 42 or more hours in a school month without a legitimate excuse, or
- 72 or more hours in a school year without a legitimate excuse
The bill limits the number of excused and unexcused absences a student can have and will require parents to submit medical documentation stating the reason for the absences once a student misses 38 hours in a month or 65 hours in a school year.
Part of HB 410 requires schools to form a truancy intervention team that includes the parent to determine why students are missing school and to put interventions in place to improve attendance. After the truancy intervention plan is in place, the district is required to file a truancy complaint in court against the parent if the student’s attendance does not improve in 60 days.
Research studies have shown a strong connection between good school attendance and student achievement. West Branch Local Schools will be generating reports to determine students who are at-risk for missing multiple hours of school. For more information on the importance of school attendance and ways to advance student success by reducing absenteeism, please visit the Attendance Works website.
Please see the Student Handbook for further attendance details.