With so many viruses going around New York State this year, is your child at risk of not advancing to the next grade if they take too many sick days?
Just before the holidays, our son got one of those funky viruses that wasn't COVID or the flu but still had all the fun symptoms that kept him home from school. With a stuffy nose, fever, body aches and general ickiness, he wound up being out of school for an entire week. After taking a few other sick days earlier in the year for a cold, our son has racked up quite a few absences, which made me wonder if there's a limit to the number of days a kid can stay home from school.
According to a study by U.S. News and World Report, most educational professionals define chronic absenteeism as 10% of the school year or approximately two unexcused absences per month. If your child has a couple of sicknesses before the holidays they may find themselves dangerously close to being chronically absent by the time they hit the middle of the school year. While taking an average of two days off a month can leave them behind in their studies, it's generally not enough to keep them back.
Research has shown that since the pandemic, schoolchildren are more chronically absent than ever. After living through a couple of years of virtual and hybrid learning, students and parents have become used to taking days off from school. Educators say that an uptick of sick days is causing kids to fall behind in their studies.
When it comes to the limit of sick days, the New York State Education Department says that they leave that decision up to each individual school district. Schools are encouraged to set a minimum standard of attendance for a student to be eligible for course credit. Among a random sampling of the schools we found with a limit of sick days, the average was between 22 and 25 allowed absences per year.
Those benchmarks can be different for kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school students in the same school district, so it's important to read the policy carefully.
If your child has fallen victim to some of those wacky viruses that have been going around, you may want to check their school district's absentee policy. With five more months of school to go, they could be in danger of being left behind. The good news is that students who make up work and catch up on their studies won't generally have their absences count towards the annual limit.