Update on Absenteeism (Melinda)

[Guest guest]

I finally got to speak to the assistant principal. She

pulled 's record and let me know that once a

student has 7 absenses, the computer automatically

puts their name as getting a letter. I told her that

he does have OCD and the anxiety gets the better of

him and he refuses to go to school. I reminded her

that he has a behavior plan in effect. She said that

she knew about the behavior plan. She said that he was

totally " okay " because she understood the anxiety and

that he had the IEP and behavior plan.

Come to find out, he had one unexcused. Luckily he

came in (we'd just finished our exhaustive IEP

meeting), and I told him he needed to remember why he

didn't go to school on Nov. 20th. She went on to

explain that the school calls the parents when the

student is absent and there is no call from the

parent. I told her I'd never gotten a call from the

school regarding being absent-that I'd called

the absentee line every time. As it was, she went on

to check to see what was going on that day. It was the

last day before Thanksgiving break, and they had a

special assembly that day. She described it and

was like, " I was here. " And he went on to describe

what he'd done that day and who he was with and the

places he'd been at. (It was like a career day thing

and they got to visit different booths). So she took

all the info and is going to check to verify it and

put it back as a day he wasn't absent.

Thanks for all the input.

Melinda H