Top Questions About Attendance and Truancy Hayward High School
1. How do I excuse my student when they are ill? The easiest way is to contact the school at 715.638.9501 and leave a message that your student is ill, or email the attendance office at
[email protected] . You may also write a note and send it with your student upon their return. If they were at an appointment, please send along their medical note. Medical notes can also be emailed to the above email address.
2. How many days per year can I excuse my child? State statutes allow parents/guardians to excuse 10 (ten) absences for the school year under excused absences, and an additional 10 absences that can be excused as pre-arranged absences. Medically excused absences do not count towards the students’ 10 excused absences. For a medical or dental absence, a note from the medical provider’s office confirming the appointment or medical absence must be submitted to the school.
3. What is considered an excused absence? State law cites that students are to be in school all day, for every class period. Excused absences include: illness, funerals, and religious holidays. Oversleeping or ride problems are not excused.
4. How do I excuse my student for a family trip or other absence that we know of in advance? Contact the attendance office by phone or email to let them know the dates that your student will be absent. We will provide your student with a pre-arranged form to give their teachers to collect their homework in advance. Once they bring the form back to the front office filled out by their teachers, they will be marked pre-arranged for their days away. Limit is 10 pre-arranged absences. Habitually truant students may have pre-arranged absences denied.
5. What happens if my student is ill for a long period of time or is hospitalized? Hayward High School makes every effort to assist in maintaining the educational process for an ill student. Please contact our main office at 715.638.9501 to request homework or other assistance. This type of absence is covered under medical absences with proper documentation from the medical provider. These types of absences do not count toward the 10 excused absences for the year.
6. What happens if I use up all 10 excused absences? After the parent/guardian utilizes all 10 excused absences, any further absences must be medically excused or pre-arranged, or the absence will be considered unexcused. All absences after the first 10 would count towards truancy (excluding medical).
7. What happens if my student gets an unexcused absence? When a student is marked absent for the day, an automated phone call goes out alerting the parent/guardian of the absence. After 3 unexcused absences a warning letter (a blue sheet) will be mailed out indicating the dates in question. Please contact the school or return the blue sheet to clear
up the absences, and if applicable submit medical notes. After 5 unexcused absences a habitual truancy fine may be imposed ($200.50). Truancy fines mandate a required appearance in the Sawyer County Truancy Court. If attendance does not improve, students may receive more than one truancy citation per semester.
8. What responsibility, as a parent/guardian, do I have in my student’s attendance? Compulsory school attendance (WI statute 118.15 and supported by City Ordinance 373) states that “any person having under control a child who is between the ages of 6 and 18 years shall cause the student to attend school regularly during the full period and hours,...” This means that students must attend school unless legally excused and that it is the parent’s responsibility to ensure the student is attending. Parents can be held liable for contributing to truancy if adequate effort is not taken to ensure their child is attending.
9. When do absences start over? Excused and unexcused absences accumulate the whole year but are counted for truancy by the semester. State law says that a student is habitually truant when they have 5 or more unexcused absences in a semester . Unexcused absences for truancy purposes restart at the semester.
If you need to report an absence, or if you have a question about attendance or truancy, please contact our High School Administrative office at 715.634.9501 or email
[email protected] .
Please feel free to contact us with questions or information.
Thank you, Hayward High School