With a new school year beginning around the world it may be a good time to address tardy and truancy issues, before it becomes a problem.
The bell rings and class begins, but is your child in their seat? Every school district has their own policies, procedures, and disciplinary actions regarding attendance. However, habitual delinquencies can pose serious problems for both the student and their parents. Consistent tardies and truancy may prevent a child from receiving a proper education or even graduating on time. In addition, if the problem becomes severe, school authorities may contact Child Protective Services.
The fact is that the majority of students make it to class on time. If tardies occur, they are primarily during the first class of the day. When a student walks in the door 5 or 15 minutes late, they often miss the instruction for the day and any warm up exercises that are routinely done at the beginning of class. It is time that the other students were on task learning, while the late student was not. Instead, the late student usually comes in hurried, flustered, and embarrassed. Then, they must deal with the stress of catching up on what they missed. Overall, it is not a good way to begin the day.
In addition, tardies can affect the learning of all the other classmates. The late student draws attention to him/her self upon walking in the door and rustling through their book bag after class has already begun. For a moment, everyone else in the class room may be distracted by their entrance or the teacher who stops the lesson to scold them for being tardy. Tardies can be very frustrating to teachers who are interrupted or must repeat instructions for those who don't make it to class on time.
Truancy is when a student fails to appear for class at all and their absence is unexcused. Students who are truant pose an even greater concern, as it is often unknown why they weren't in school and what they were doing with their unsupervised time. It can be a sign of any number of serious problems including school bullying, depression, drug use, and more. In terms of academics, it means a substantial loss of class time that generally results in poor grades. Most schools have policies that require a student to be in the class room for a certain amount of time in order to receive full credit and graduate with their peers.
If a child is absent from school for a justifiable reason, the parent must follow the schools protocol and call the office or send a note. However, sometimes students assume the identity of their parents in order to avoid getting in trouble at home. So, if you suspect your child is not in school when they need to be, you may want to verify attendance records with their school's secretary.
Parents must help their kids maintain regular school attendance. In some states, parents are being prosecuted and fined for failure to do so. In addition, many schools have a policy in which they contact social services or Child Protective Services after a certain amount of class time has been missed. Also, be advised that it is not uncommon for schools to count multiple tardies as a day of truancy.
