What is required school age? In Maine, children age 7 and older and teenagers under 17 years old must be in a school program. This means your child cannot drop out before they are 17 years old. Until then your child is compulsory school age. What is an unexcused absence? Any absence that is not excused. Maine law defines an "excused absence" as missed school time because of: Illness A medical appointment that must be made during the school day Observing a recognized religious holiday when the observance is during school A family emergency A planned absence for a personal or educational purpose that has been approved by the school Educational disruption caused by a student's homelessness, unplanned hospitalization, or placement in foster care or a youth development center Whose responsibility is it to get my child to school?
What is the school's responsibility? The team will decide: What caused your child's unexcused absences What is the effect of the unexcused absences on your child What will be the effect of more unexcused absences on your child If the team decides there is a negative effect on your child, the team will make an "intervention plan. Schools should have a dropout prevention committee. Members should include: One school board member A school administrator A teacher A school counselor A parent A school attendance counselor A high school student A dropout student, and A community resident The purpose of this committee is to understand why students drop out and make recommendations to the school board for how to address the problem.
The committee should explore the reasons why students drop out, including; Keeping in contact with recent dropouts to offer or refer them to alternative education, counseling and human services programs; Educating teachers and administrators about the dropout problem in the school district; Reviewing the school's disciplinary policies and practices; and Reviewing any discriminatory practices and attitudes within the school unit.
If you do not go to the meeting, the team can still make this plan for your child. The notice must say that: Your child is required to attend school; You have a right to review your child's attendance records; The school's attendance coordinator's reports if any and the principal's reports; Your failure to get your child to school may be a civil violation and what the possible penalties are; Local law enforcement or Maine DHHS can be contacted; and A plan was developed - including the specifics of that plan and the steps that were implemented to improve your child's attendance.
What happens in court? You may be summoned to appear in District Court if: Your child is "under your control" i. When I signed her out around lunch time today the attendance lady had something to say because I signed her out due to her brothers band concert at the same school that they put limits on family members only 2 people could come so I had to find her child care which was a distance away I had to pick her up early to make it in time.
So I felt torn,be judged for signing her out eairly or be late or even miss my 13 year old performance. Their big trip to a theme park was canceled this year due to covid so this was the next best option. Mean while my 13 year old has anxity and ADHD and has a special education plan since 1st grade and currently has around absences they rack up quick when you are talking multiple assignments for 5 teachers a day.
Especially when you are trying to navigate life. My mother needs extra help due to her health but Im not much due to the risk of her compromised health scared im going to make her sick because the kids attend in person class but if we go completely at home like the end of last year I wont be able to help her at all. I also had the same problem with truancy being threatened with Endeavor Charter Academy in Springfield Michigan they said because of homework that was missed they would receive an absence for that day two of my kids had several absences and the other two only had two each so I pulled them out of the school and place them in another school and since then have not had the issue.
I try to be supportive, as she is not falling behind in school. Their minds are being ignored, they NEED peers, and if they are to succeed they NEED to be well-rounded, not just sitting in front of a screen without real stimulation. I have two sons. One in eighth grade and one in first. My oldest got a truancy letter for some dollars for 9 days of school missed. Our life this year has been even more of a tragedy than most families out there.
We lost half our family… My sons are grieving as well as me. So our life this year, with death, school, covid, everything has been ripped out from under us. West Perry school district is doing a poor job with virtual learning. My School District is sending the attendance letters out too! They threatened to charge me with truancy during a crisis.
This in combination with my environmental conditions is when my resilience saved me from having a mental breakdown, I was pushed to my edges and still am. My sleeping patterns have been all screwed up since. When pandemic learning was implemented, Every time we would try to log onto the remote learning system we were unsuccessful due to system errors with many attempts. I had money for a deposit first and last months rent, no criminal back ground, a job struggling to find a long term spot having to move five times.
In addition to economic uncertainty, I was managing the grief of losing my mother and two sisters in a short period, along with the PTSD that came with witnessing my sister die in front of my daughter and I.
I informed the principle and three different school counselors of our conditions. I was in direct contact with the superintendent. My daughter and I finally got settled into long term housing in November and were working miracles in healing and taking care of our basic priorities. Then, I get the most disturbing email from her school principle who in the past had already proven himself the master of my deepest childhood triggers with the good ole small minded, ignorant neurotypical nonsense that tortured me through my middle school experience.
My daughter and I both have Dyslexia. I spent decades in therapy and somatic, holistic healing practices to connect me with my most authentic qualities. My daughter completed her first semester online and the whole situation stressed us out and it was worst thing I ever experienced. While working fulltime in positions that I was able to directly use my education hand in hand with experience.
I have never felt so disappointed in our school district and believe me we had a very poor experience before Covid. I want education to be resourceful not debilitating. During the last year we lost my father and my grandfather to covid and we have been trying to work through all of this tragic year the best we can I have 4 kids 3 of them that are in school and a 10 month old.
I am here all day because I cannot work and educate them at the same time. We enrolled my son into polytech before the pandemic began because in our area this school is supposed to be a better choice for his future.
My son has missed some classes due to the tragedy this year but alot of technology issues as well as disconnected cable as I am still waiting on a box from the school not to mention the days that he is in class and I see him myself in class but he is still marked absent. I am so frustrated that we are being threatend with truency court.
This whole situation is unbelievable…. I have been in constant contact with the school working with them with his IEP and trying to explain it is hard for children to differentiate home and school especially a child that has special needs. So my son is being punished for his disability pretty much how I see it. I agree children belong in school on time and present but how can they be with so many changes going on of Wich we have never seen in any of our lives people dieng left and right but we are expected to just deal with it and people can do whatever they want to you and we pay the consequences.
The teachers are not doing what they need to be the parents are doing all roles and also having to keep food on the table. I just want to know who is out here to help the parents and see what we see and speak on our behalf and let these schools and states know what they are doing is wrong.
If things were not ready for our children to return to school then they should have never returned. As a college student subject to online learning through synchronous zoom lectures I have dealt with my own share of technical problems. I have issues with zoom not working with my webcam or microphone on occasion. I also have extremely loud neighbors who blast music all night and an even louder church who plays bad church music every hour on the hour during the day both of which has affected my grades far more than technical issues.
If I am not getting enough sleep due to situations beyond my control I may be late for a lecture and if I am not able to study due to not having a proper learning environment my grades will suffer. A parent who is worried for the safety of themselves or their children should not be punished for it.
On the contrary, I question if it is even constitutional to punish parents under such circumstances. It means making sure students have access to education. They should give students the option of asynchronous learning.
Let them study with physical books and write on actual paper and maybe on a weekly basis allow the students to mail the documents in. Call that an excused absence! See, there are lots of ways that schools can make sure students are learning regardless of the technical issues students are having. Please reference the Terms of Use and the Supplemental Terms for specific information related to your state.
Market Your Law Firm. Lawyer Directory. Call us at 1 Truancy Among Teens. Missing School States have different definitions of what it means to be truant. Parental Permission Even if a child is habitually absent from school, the child is not truant unless those absences occur without the permission of the child's parent or legal guardian. Truancy Notifications When a child is absent from school, it typically falls to the school to first contact the child and the child's parents or guardian to notify them of the absence.
Truancy Meeting When a teen is truant the teen's school will often hold a meeting where the child, the child's parents, teachers, and school administrators will discuss the truancy problem and determine what actions they can take to solve it. Juvenile Justice System When a juvenile violates a law, the juvenile is dealt with through the juvenile justice system and not the criminal justice system. Penalties Juvenile courts have much greater discretion when handling cases and can impose a wide range of punishments on both teens and the teen's parent or legal guardian.
The court will issue the penalties it deems appropriate, and a teen who violates the court's orders may face additional penalties Additional schoo l. A juvenile court can order a truant student to attend after-school, weekend, or summer sessions to make up for the school the child missed. The court may also order the student to enroll in an alternate education course, a skill center or trade school, public education courses, dropout prevention courses, or other related programs.
Drug testing. A court may order the teen to submit to drug and alcohol testing, especially if drug and alcohol abuse is present in the home or if substance abuse problems are present in the case.
The court may also order the teen to attend drug and alcohol education or rehabilitation courses. A court may also order a teen into psychological testing and counseling.
The teen may have to attend individual counseling, group counseling, or attend family counseling with parents or guardians. Probation is also possible in truancy cases. A court can order the truant teen to regularly report to a probation officer for a period of 6 months or more, or until the teen reaches the age of Probation can also require random drug tests, wearing a tracking bracelet, being confined to home when not at school or work, or other conditions.
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