Chronic Absenteeism

If a student’s absences are due to their disability or they are impacting the student’s ability to receive a free and appropriate public education (FAPE), it may implicate IDEA and/or Section 504. For a student who has not been found eligible under the two laws, the student’s absences may trigger a school’s Child Find obligations and require them to evaluate whether the student needs to be evaluated. For students who have been found eligible, the absences may need to be addressed in the student’s IEP or 504 Plan, the team may suggest that a Functional Behavioral Analysis and/or Behavior Intervention Plan if necessary, or may suggest that the student needs to be re-evaluated to determine what supports are necessary to address the absences. A failure to address the student’s absences may be a denial of FAPE depending on the circumstances.

The IDEA and Section 504 also have procedural safeguards when a student is removed from school due to disciplinary actions. This may be a formal suspension, or the student’s parents may be called to pick them up early for the day (known as informal removal). If a student is removed from school for this reason, it should be documented as a suspension – it should not be documented as any of the exceptions listed above. This is because documenting a suspension as another absence makes it difficult to keep track of the number of days the student is removed due to disciplinary actions, which can be a barrier to parents or guardians exercising their due process rights.

Learn more about Restraint, Seclusion, and Shortened School Days here.

The APP is a separate document from a student’s IEP or 504 Plan and may be created without the entire IEP or 504 team present. However, a reasonable APP should consider a student’s disability and their IEP or 504 Plan to be effective at addressing the student’s attendance. The APP may be kept as an attachment to the student’s IEP or 504 Plan for easy access.

Because the entire IEP or 504 team may not be present, an APP should not contradict or make amendments to a student’s IEP or 504 plan. When the APP and IEP or 504 Plan conflict, the IEP or 504 Plan take precedence over the APP and the teams should meet to make the two plans align.

There are several strategies and best practices that may help families navigate compulsory attendance laws more effectively, such as:

• Document, document, document!
  • Make sure all communications regarding your child’s absences are in writing.
  • If you have a verbal conversation, follow up with the person you spoke with in an email or other written communication
  • Keep track of your student’s absences and the reasons for those absences including suspensions and informal removals.
• Address absenteeism early and often
  • If you believe absences may become a problem in the future, bring it up with the school as early as possible to find strategies to address
• Develop a system that the whole team uses to keep communications organized in one location
• Write into the IEP or 504 Plan:
  • Accommodations or modifications
  • Strategies or services
  • Documentation in the ‘parent concerns’ section if the school is unwilling to address it elsewhere in the IEP
  • Expectation that the student will be absent in certain circumstances, with schedule if possible
• Plan for how instruction and work will be made up while the student is absent
  • Who is responsible for gathering materials?
  • Are materials being picked up or sent home?
  • How are missed deadlines handled?
  • Will work be reduced to only absolutely necessary work?
• Get to the root cause of absences and eliminate them if possible!
  • Anxiety about a particular subject, class, person, location, etc?
  • Self-confidence, bullying or harassment?
  • Safety concerns or school-based trauma?
  • Incentives to go to school versus staying home?
  • Accessibility issues?

Hire a criminal defense attorney or ask the court to appoint you one as soon as possible

• *DRI does not handle criminal defense matters*

Tell your criminal defense attorney about:

• Your child’s disability and how it impacts their attendance
• Your child’s IEP or 504 Plan
• History of addressing/attempting to address truancy issues with the school.
• All outside services you have obtained or are attempting to obtain for your child

If your attorney is unfamiliar with special education law, have them reach out to DRI and we may be able to provide general information or technical assistance.

Truancy may be better addressed through the IEP or 504 Plan process and not in the criminal courts