I love school. Okay. Not Math, and the social trauma was more than anyone should ever deal with. But I enjoy learning.
I never ever would have thought that I would be dealing with a truancy officer with my kids. Of course, the fact that I was homeschooled through half of my primary school years also contributed to my never thinking of dealing with a truancy officer. But that’s beside the point.
Here’s the thing.
My kids aren’t me, and I try hard to remember that.
Two years ago, I was shocked to deal with a truant officer with regards to my daughter. But COVID world is a whole new world and if she didn’t feel well. I wasn’t about to send her to school if she might possibly have COVID. I’m sure all the other parents appreciated that too. Unfortunately, the school didn’t. I also find that for her, she occasionally needs a mental health day. Being in middle school was HARD. Her unexcused absences had gone over the 7-day limit of the school year. The truancy officer wanted an explanation.
This was not my first rodeo with the truancy officers. Due to my son’s many medical issues and refusals to go to school, the annual letter saying he had exceeded the number of allowable days was pretty much expected at this point each year.
So what happens when you get a truancy letter or phone call?
First, know that any doctor’s visit as long as you can get a note from them (even if it’s 4 months late) is an excused absence no matter how many days it adds up to. That doesn’t mean that they won’t have work to do, but it gets the truancy officer off your back.
Next, in the case of my son, once I collected all the missing Dr.’s notes, I explained the situation. In his case, the school was VERY aware of what was going on with his refusals to attend school, and even if he was there he would refuse to work. Luckily we are done with those days now. But it was pretty hairy for a couple years. So I referred the truancy officer to his school. Truancy officers usually oversee several different schools at a time so they may not have even talked with your school yet to find out if there are extenuating circumstances. In our case because I was in touch with the school daily about my son, that was the end of my interaction usually for the year.
With my daughter it was a different situation. We were threatened with court. I was able to barely scrounge enough doctors notes to get us back on the right side of days off barely.
Should you have to go to court-
Know that you are responsible for your child going to school until they graduate. It’s your legal responsibility. You can and will get fined or sent to jail for not ensuring your child is at school.
Having a special needs child often means that our kids miss a lot of school. So, to prevent entanglements with the truancy officer, learn from my experiences and make sure you get every single doctor’s note turned in.
