There are many reasons that students have poor attendance. At ROE 4's At-Risk Student Services Department, we will work with you to increase overall attendance in your school.
When should a student be referred?
- A chronic truant is a student that has been absent without a valid cause for 5% or more of the last 180 school days.
- A chronic absentee is a student who has been absent from school for any reason (both excused and unexcused) for 10% or more of the last 180 school days.
- Once a school as exhausted all intervention strategies unsuccessfully to address students that are either chronically truant, chronically absent, or at risk of becoming chronically truant or absent, they should be referred to the program
How long can a student be in the program?
- The goal of the program is help the students achieve 90% attendance.
- The formula used: Total School days present divided by total number of school days = percent
- Once a student has successfully completed this goal, they are exited from the program
ARSS will follow these steps:
- School must send an attendance letter that states it is the 1st notification of attendance problems as required by law
- Referral from school to ARSS (with a copy of the first letter that was sent by the school) and 2nd notification from ARSS will be sent at this time
- Student interview/parent interview
- Student service plan designed with input from parent(s) and school
- ARSS coordinator continues to monitor student service plan and make adjustments as needed
- If attendance doesn’t improve, at-risk referrals may receive the chronic truancy letter, which is the 3rd notification as required by law before court intervention
- If attendance still doesn’t improve, a truant minor or an educational neglect petition may be filed by the State’s Attorney.
Referral Form Link: https://forms.gle/SoLnWXB2sp7oNJwZ8
Compulsory Attendance Law
