The state of Iowa is prioritizing public school attendance.
On May 9, 2024, the Iowa Senate passed a new attendance law. Starting July 1, the law went into effect.
This new law set the guidelines for public school attendance requirements concerning “chronic absenteeism” and “truancy.”
In an email sent to the parents of West Delaware students, superintendent Jen Vance described chronic absenteeism as “missing 10 percent of the days in a grading period or semester (approximately 56 hours or eight days).”
“We know that when students are missing that much of school, it’s impacting their learning,” counselor Shelby Piersch said.
The new law, however, left the interpretation of how absences are counted up to the school district. Schools like Sergeant Bluff-Luton, count absences based on the number of minutes missed. West Delaware, however, is different because of the block scheduling.
“We’re counting it based on periods,” Piersch said. “If you miss one period, that’s a quarter of the day. When a student misses 32 total class periods, we’re counting that as eight days missed.”
Despite West Delaware High School having term classes, the district defines one grading period as one semester.
“Even though you may have a one-term class that changes, those absences you missed in term one will still continue to count (throughout the semester),” Piersch said.
Furthermore, the new law does not differentiate between excused and unexcused absences; however, there are some exceptions. If a student participates in a school-sponsored event, it will not count against their attendance.
However, according to Piersch if a student were to miss school to watch state volleyball, “that’s an unexcused absence that would count towards your total days missed.”
After the first term of the school year ended, Piersch noted that attendance has improved compared to last year. Data shows students missing five or more days has decreased by six percent, which is a difference of around 30 students. Students missing 10 or more days has decreased by two percent, a difference of 10 students.
“In speaking with Mr. (Tim) Felderman, we are both very happy with this trend and are proud of our students for making attendance a priority!” Piersch said.
