Absences and Excuses

Excused absences and tardies require documentation consistent with the absence (Ex: Note from a licensed medical provider, a letter from the military, KY State Fair ticket, a letter from General Assembly, EHO form). If official documentation is not provided the student may provide up to four (4) parent notes per semester. (Each note may excuse one (1) day’s absence). Each student is also allotted two (2) parent notes for tardies per semester, separate from, and in addition to, the previously referenced four (4) parent notes for absences. Note should be received within five (5) school days upon returning to school.

Truancy Guidelines

• School will send a letter at the point of truancy (3 unexcused absences or tardies in a school year)
• School will provide a conference at the point of habitual truancy (reported truant two or more times in a school year)
• District will perform a Home Visit (Attendance Advocate) and deliver a Final Notice once a student has accumulated 9 unexcused absences.
• If truancy continues following the home visit the district will make a referral to Court

Parent Notes

• For these guidelines, “parent notes” may include notes from persons other than a parent who reside in the state and have custody or charge over the child.

Absences and Excuse Guidelines

09.123 AP.1

Review/Revised:7/13/2023

Absences and Excuses Procedure 09.123 AP.1

An excused absence or tardiness is one for which work may be made up, such as:

1. Death or severe illness in the pupil’s immediate family;
2. Illness of the pupil, including mental or behavioral health;
3. Religious holidays and practices;
4. One (1) day for attendance at the Kentucky State Fair;
5. Documented military leave;
6. One (1) day prior to departure of parent/guardian called to active military duty;
7. One (1) day upon the return of parent/guardian from active military duty;
8. Visitation for up to ten (10) days with the student’s parent, de facto custodian, or person with legal custody who, while on active military duty stationed outside of the country, is granted rest and recuperation leave;
9. Ten (10) days for students attending basic training required by a branch of the United States Armed Forces;
10. Students participating in any of the page programs of the General Assembly;² or
11. Other valid reasons as determined by the Principal, including trips qualifying as educational enhancement opportunities.

Any student who has attained the age of six (6), but has not reached his/her eighteenth (18th) birthday, who has been absent from school without valid excuse for three (3) days or more, or tardy without valid excuse on three (3) days or more, is a truant.

Any student enrolled in a public school who has attained the age of eighteen (18) years, but has not reached his/her twenty-first (21st) birthday, who has been absent from school without valid excuse for three (3) or more days, or tardy without valid excuse on three (3) or more days, is a truant.

Any student who has been reported as a truant two (2) or more times is an habitual truant.

For the purposes of establishing a student's status as a truant, a student’s attendance record is cumulative for an entire school year. When students transfer from one Kentucky district to another, attendance information from the previous district shall become part of their official attendance record for that school year.