Attendance

• Missing 10% of school, or about 2 days each month over the course of a school year, can make it harder to learn to read, and can affect a student’s future academic success.

• As well as missing learning, students who are absent miss out on important social relationships, fun activities, and opportunities to build community with their classmates.

• By 6th grade, absenteeism is one of three signs that a student may drop out of high school. 

• By 9th grade, attendance is a better predictor of graduation rates than 8th grade test scores. 

• Find more information at AttendanceWorks.org

• Talk to your student about the importance of showing up to school every day. 

• Frequent absences or refusing to go to school can be a sign that a student is losing interest in school, struggling with school work, dealing with a bully or facing some other difficulty. If your child seems anxious about going to school, reach out to your student’s teacher or a member of the school’s student services team for support.

• Develop a morning routine to help reduce stress for both children and caregivers.

• Help your student maintain daily routines such as finishing homework, packing backpacks the night before, and setting up a bedtime routine for a good night’s sleep. 

• Think of backup plans for getting to school if something comes up. Call on a family member, a neighbor, or another parent. 

• Try to schedule non-urgent medical/dental appointments and extended trips/vacations when school isn’t in session. 

• Find more information at AttendanceWorks.org

If your child is suffering from anxiety, you are not alone. The good news is that in most situations, anxiety is normal and temporary. Anxiety becomes a concern if it persists — it can affect relationships with family, peers and teachers, lead to academic challenges, and lead to school avoidance/refusal. Addressing anxiety is important for a child’s overall well-being, not just attendance. In addition, if your child starts to complain of symptoms like a headache or stomach ache, it is important to quickly determine whether this is related to anxiety or a physical illness that might require missing school. If the challenge is anxiety, staying home may worsen the situation.

Working through your child’s anxiety issues can be difficult and scary, and you shouldn’t have to do it alone. Take advantage of the resources at your child’s school by talking with the school nurse, counselor, social worker and/or psychologist to discuss your student’s challenges, identify what can help your child and develop a return-to-school plan. To find contact information for your school’s student support teams, visit the Staff Directory.

Find more information at AttendanceWorks.org

A student who is absent from school for part or all of a school day without an acceptable excuse provided by their family is considered truant. If the school is not notified about your student’s absence, the student will be marked as “truant” for that day.

Under Wisconsin State Statute 118.16 and MGSD School Board Policy 5200, a student who is truant for 5 or more days in a semester is considered habitually truant. We want your student to succeed at school, and if your student is habitually truant we will contact your family to schedule an attendance meeting. At this meeting we want to hear from you and your student about barriers to attending school. We will come up with solutions as a team by creating an Attendance Improvement Plan. 

For students who are open enrolled, habitual truancy can affect future open enrollment status. A student who is habitually truant may have their open enrollment revoked at semester.

• 1-2 Unexcused Absences - Safe arrival message.

• 2 Unexcused Absences - Unexcused absence notification message sent to family.

• 3 Unexcused Absences - Safe arrival message. If this is the 3rd unexcused absence in a row, a school social worker may do a home visit.

• 4 Unexcused Absences - Safe arrival message. Second unexcused notification message sent to family.

• 5 Unexcused Absences - Safe arrival message. Students are now considered habitually truant. A letter requiring a meeting with the family and school staff to develop an Attendance Improvement Plan will be sent via email and US Postal Service mail. 

• 6-9 Unexcused Absences - Safe arrival messages. Continue to work with family to implement the Attendance Improvement Plan.

• 10 Unexcused Absences - Final notification of truancy letter will be sent to the family. The student or their parent/guardian may be referred to their local police department, or to Dane County Child Protective Services.

Chronic absenteeism is when a student is consistently absent from school, even when the absences are excused. Under Wisconsin State Statute 118.15(1)(a) and (am), all children between six (6) and eighteen (18) years of age shall attend school regularly. According to MGSD School Board Policy 5200, a student may not be excused by permission of the parent for more than ten (10) days per school year. 

Regardless if these absences are excused, you may receive email or letter notifications during the school year on the number of days your student has missed. School staff are available to problem solve and provide support if your student or family is struggling to get to school.

Health-related absences are one of the top reasons students miss school, and why they may be at risk of chronic absenteeism. Occasional absences related to health reasons are to be expected. But absences can quickly add up when a child has an undertreated chronic health condition, lacks access to care or experiences anxiety or other mental health issues. Families might also be confused about when to send a child to school versus when to keep them home. If you are concerned about your child’s health or have questions, please contact your school’s health office using the contact information at the top of this page.
 

Please keep your student home if they have…

• Fever or chills (without other symptoms): Check temperature with a thermometer. If the temperature is 100.0 or higher, keep the student home until their temperature remains lower than 100.0 for at least 24 hours without giving fever-reducing medication such as Tylenol or Ibuprofen.

• Greater than 2 episodes of vomiting or diarrhea (without other symptoms) within the last 24 hours: Keep the student home until they can tolerate their regular diet and their symptoms have resolved overnight.

• A rash or communicable infection (such as pink eye, strep throat, influenza, RSV, mono etc.): Keep the student home from school and call your health care provider for further medical evaluation. If diagnosed with another condition, they must complete the exclusion period for the diagnosed disease as listed on the Wisconsin Childhood Communicable Disease Chart.

• Skin sores that are draining fluid on an uncovered part of the body and are unable to be covered with a bandage: When open sores can remain covered by clothing or bandages for an entire school day, the student may return to school. Please follow the Wisconsin Childhood Communicable Disease Chart for exclusion periods for specific conditions.

• Respiratory virus symptoms that are worsening or not improving and not better explained by another cause such as seasonal allergies: Keep the student home from school until symptoms are getting better overall for at least 24 hours. 

When possible, please get a medical note from your provider to excuse your student’s absence. Medical notes can be sent to the school’s attendance line email listed above, or dropped off at the school’s main office. 

• You can check your student’s attendance in Infinite Campus online, or using the Campus Parent Portal mobile app (available in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.)

• The app will notify you in real time when your student is absent from or late to class

• You can also report or request an absence through the Infinite Campus Parent Portal app. 

  • Log into your Infinite Campus Parent Portal account

  • Select More from the Navigation area

  • Select Absence Requests

  • Fill in the required information, including the date and reason for the absence

  • Submit your request

• Don’t have an Infinite Campus account, or need help accessing your account? Visit the MGSD Infinite Campus Help page.

• MGSD School Board Policy 5200

• WI State Statute 118.15: Compulsory school attendance

• WI State Statute 118.16: School attendance enforcement