For students to learn and succeed, they need to be in school. All of us — administrators, teachers, parents, students and community members must work together to cut down on truancy and absenteeism. The Chicago Public Schools want to help by:
Helping schools, parents, teachers and students to identify and correct truant behavior;
Giving schools guidelines to address student attendance and truancy issues, including how to handle students who are frequently truant;
Solving truancy problems early by working with both the school and the community to reduce the amount of classroom time students lose due to truancy and unexcused absences.
Students are considered to be truant if they are absent from school without a valid reason. Parents should be aware of signs children often exhibit when truancy occurs. If one or more of the following items is a concern, truancy may be a contributing factor and should be examined as a possible cause:
1. The student is unable to share any details about his or her daily school activities.
2. The parent is receiving NO communications from his or her child’s school on a regular basis.
3. The student does not seem to be motivated to be successful in school.
4. The student is having learning difficulties, and may be unable to “keep up” with the rest of the class.
5. The student is failing multiple classes.
6. The student was retained in his grade due to low achievement in classes.
7. The student is purposely tardy to school, fails to arrive at school, or leaves school without permission.
8. The student often cuts classes.
9. The student arrives home from school earlier or later than the expected time.
10. The student stays out late at night without permission.
11. The student refuses to get up to go to school.
12. The student hangs out with others who skip school.
13. The student shows signs of depression.
14. The student is afraid of being bullied, harassed or fears physical harm.
15. The student is having language or cultural difficulties at school.
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