Waukee CSD Introduces New Attendance Policies

Waukee Community School District updated its attendance policies to comply with the new compulsory attendance law in the state of Iowa. The policies were passed by the Waukee CSD School Board at the Aug. 12 meeting.

Here’s a summary of the new legislation:

  • Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% of school (5 days in a quarter).
  • Truancy is defined as missing 20% of school (9 days in a quarter).
  • When a student is absent for 10%, the District is required to notify the county attorney and send a notice to parents.
  • When a student is absent for 15%, a school engagement meeting is required between the student, parent, and a school official to create a prevention plan. The school will monitor compliance and contact the parent at least once a week.
  • If the plan is violated, the county attorney may get involved.

The 2024-25 Waukee CSD quarters are:

  • Aug. 23-Oct. 25
  • Oct. 29-Jan. 16
  • Jan. 21-March 28
  • March 31-May 30

 

Here’s what this means for families:

Attendance Tracking

We will be closely monitoring attendance to ensure compliance with the new law.

At the elementary level:

  • Attendance is recorded four times daily.
  • Students who arrive at school more than 15 minutes late will be reported absent.
  • Students taken out of school for 60 minutes or more during the academic day will be considered absent in quarter day increments.

At the secondary level:

  • Attendance is taken each period or block.
  • Students who arrive to their first assigned class more than 15 minutes late will be reported absent.
  • After the school day has started, students who are tardy 5 minutes or more to any classes, after their first class, will be reported as absent in the attendance system.
  • Students checked out of school by a parent during the academic day for half of the period/block or longer will be considered absent for that period/block.

 

Excused Absences

We will allow two health-related excused absences in a quarter (i.e., fever). More than two health related absences in any quarter may require documentation throughout the remainder of the year in order to be excused. Please inform your school of all absences and provide necessary documentation at the start of the school day. When a nurse sends a student home for health-related reasons, the absence is medically excused.

Students attending school-sponsored activities and athletics, field trips, and work-based learning experiences through an assigned course will be considered present.

Family trips and vacations are not considered excused absences per Iowa Code. We recognize that these do occur, however, so please communicate proactively to allow us to work with your student to complete school work.

For a full list of excused absences, please see the policy.

 

Disciplinary Action

Students who are absent without a reasonable excuse, as determined by the principal, will be assigned a consequence. This may include supervised study hall, detention, early bird school, Saturday school, in-school suspension, or other disciplinary actions.

Students with excessive unexcused absences resulting in truancy may also lose academic credit for the courses missed as determined by building administration.

IMPORTANT: Please note that something can be excused by the school — meaning no discipline would occur — but would still be added to the absence total according to Iowa Code. For example, a family will generally be excused by the school for a vacation, but those days will still count for the chronic attendance law.

 

Attendance Policies

Please read the following policies for full details:

 

FAQ, Example Scenarios, and Absence Coding

For more detailed information, please see the Absenteeism Policy FAQ.

If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to your school’s principal or contact info@waukeeschools.org.