Here are a few factoids about school attendance in LAUSD:
- Education is compulsory for children ages 6 and up (until graduation).
- While full-day attendance is the law, any student who is present for at least 30 minutes of an hour is marked present. (Ideally before 9am, which is when attendance submittal is due.)
- The State of CA funds schools based on their Average Daily Attendance (ADA). So every absence costs the District $. Every student at school brings the District $. Each student absence costs the District approximately $70.
- The State of CA and the District evaluate a school's effectiveness, in part, based on the number of students deemed Chronically Absent, which means absent 10% (or more) of the # of school year (see the CA Dashboard). In 2019, the last year that this data was displayed on the CA Dashboard, Walgrove was excellent in every category (ELA, math, discipline, attendance) except attendance. We earned a "Red" in attendance and hence had to form a School Site Council (SSC) and create goals and strategies to address Chronic Absenteeism.
- Parents may excuse absences for illness or other reasons within 10 days of the absence (see Ed Code 48205); however, excusing an absence doesn't make it disappear. It still counts as an absence for the purpose of state funding. However, since teachers only have access to attendance for four days, parents should provide a signed note as soon as possible upon return to school.
- Why do we "excuse" absences, if this does not make the absences disappear? This is to distinguish absences due to illness (or another acceptable reason) from those due to truancy. Because school is compulsory, the state and the District keep track of student attendance. This distinction is relevant in law enforcement, custody, and child welfare matters.
- Attendance is important not just for funding, of course, or to stay off the radar of government overlords, but for bonding, automaticity and momentum. The more students are in school, the more they bond with teachers and peers, the more automatic and routine their skills become, and the more momentum they build, propelling them with increasing force toward successful futures.
For more detailed information, visit the Parent-Student Handbook.
Enjoy this shortened version of the Walgrove AttenDANCE:
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