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School board approves new student attendance, tardiness policies

T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM —‚ Marshalltown Community School District Attendance Coordinator Elizabeth Harris-Medina, right, explains the absentee rules the district needs to abide by as Director of Instruction Shauna Smith, left, looks on. Harris-Medina provided the explanation during the regular Monday school board meeting.

In an effort to adhere to new state chronic absenteeism laws, the Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) Board of Education approved policies addressing attendance and tardiness.

District Attendance Coordinator Elizabeth Harris-Medina walked the school board through the new attendance policies during the regular meeting on Monday evening. Signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May, Senate File 2435 (SF2435) went into effect on July 1. SF2435 declares any student is chronically absent if they miss more than 10 percent of days in a grading period. In the MCSD, a grading period is considered to be a semester. So, 10 percent of unexcused absences equals eight days missed in a semester.

According to Harris-Medina, “chronically absent” is something that is heard frequently in education. If an MCSD student is chronically absent, a certified letter will be sent home.

“We have the first batch of letters going out this week,” she said. “Their name will also be shared on a list with our county attorney.”

Board President Sean Heitmann sought clarification on whether the letters are for students who have already missed at least eight days, rather than someone who is in danger of being chronically absent.

Harris-Medina told him that was correct. Sending letters will be an ongoing process of targeting the students who hit the 10 percent throughout the year, she said. In order to be proactive, school officials might meet with a student before the threshold is met.

“[We want to] give as many resources as we can to the family so they don’t have more absences,” Harris-Medina said.

If a student is absent more than 15 percent of the time, a mandatory school engagement meeting must be held with the student, a parent and a school representative to identify the reasons and find solutions. Harris-Medina said the people attending the meeting will sign an attendance improvement plan. The plan will identify attendance obstacles and list how school officials can help the student overcome those obstacles and get them to school.

The state law also updated “truancy.” If 20 percent of the days within a grading period are missed, the student shall be declared a truant, and the county attorney will decide how to address it and whether or not to pursue legal action.

Harris-Medina said the law has also changed the age range children must attend school.

“They have expanded that to include preschool. So if a parent has enrolled their 4-year-old child in the public school district for a preschool program, they also have to adhere to this attendance policy,” she said.

There are exceptions to the law. It does not apply to students who have religious reasons.

“We have added this as one of our definitions in the policy for the district,” Harris-Medina said. “We do have a lot of cultures, and Marshalltown is really diverse. We really pride ourselves in that, and we want to be culturally responsible and responsive to those family needs. Religious events can include funerals (and) religious celebrations that may happen during the school year. Those are excused.”

The law also does not apply to students with legitimate medical reasons. The district has state guidelines included in the policy so parents can see whether or not to send their child to school. For example, a child should not attend school if he or she:

• Vomited at least two times within 24 hours;

• Has a fever of 100.4 or higher;

• Has a contagious illness such as strep throat or pinkeye;

• Has an undiagnosed rash with a fever or change in behavior.

“I am a twin mom of toddlers, and they are sick all of the time,” Harris-Medina said. “We understand a lot of kids do get sick in the district. So, this includes any medical absence that will be excused, as well. For example, if Shauna (Smith’s) son wakes up with a fever, she calls in and says ‘Hey, my son has a fever and can’t attend.’ That is excused.”

She said that if a child has three consecutive absences due to illness, a doctor’s note will be required.

Other exceptions to the attendance law include:

1) If a student has already completed graduation requirements, or

2) If they are excused by a judge or have other legal reasons or they have an individualized education program addressing attendance.

If a family takes a long trip outside of the district, Harris-Medina said they are asked to notify the school officials at least five days before leaving. To help families with information on how their student is doing on attendance, parents can check the MCSD Parent Portal website, which is updated every day.

Superintendent Theron Schutte said he expects that a lot of ongoing conversations regarding attendance will be held, and he predicted tweaks will be made during the next legislative session.

“There’s no question there’s a need for this sort of thing,” he said. “Chronic absenteeism has been on the increase since the pandemic. The more days missed, the more chances kids aren’t going to be Bobcat Ready or ready for that new adventure post-secondary for whatever they want to do.”

Tardiness

Interim Marshalltown High School Principal Justin Boliver presented a new tardy policy to the board, something the school did not have in place before.

Under the new guidelines, students are given five minutes to transition from one class to the next, and a one-minute warning will be issued that class is about to begin. When the final bell rings, students are expected to be in their classroom. If a student arrives at school late, he or she must report to the attendance office. If a student leaves campus without an excuse, he or she is not allowed to return for the rest of the day.

Students who are late to class without a pass will be escorted to Time Management Intervention (TMI). The students will be given a TMI form which lists reasons for the student’s tardiness. Boliver said it has everything from being unable to find a ride to taking family members to different locations while sharing a car.

“I think this is positive and it’s also going to help our attendance,” Boliver said. “I don’t know if you’ve been in our hallways, but kids are back. We’ve got our wanderers back. . . . When we have them in the hallways, they are not learning. Nothing good comes from wandering the hallways.”

Within the first week, he said they saw an effect, and the teachers have reacted positively.

Schutte said tardiness, people wandering the hallways and students coming to class at later times was a top concern with staff.

“It is great this was a priority for you guys to get the school year started off on the right track,” he said. “I’m sure there will continue to be a need to reflect, reevaluate and readjust accordingly.”

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Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210

or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.

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