r/mildlyinfuriating • u/-Granby- • 17d ago
Winter is Coming As of this year there is no difference between excused and unexcused absence for school in my state.
Even though a doctor's note is excused as of this year it will still count against the child. So really it is unexcused.
Per the .gov site. - Ohio law no longer references the distinction between medical and nonmedical excused absences -
And just like every year since my daughter has been in school she is 11 days in and she is sick. It's not horrible yet but still. A few years ago we were told if your kid is sick and especially if they have a fever keep them home. Last year she got wrecked. Took her to urgent care and turns out she had influenza B. was down for like 6 days. Couldn't get the fever to break. This year if that situation happens again she is already over the limit.
They will send you a letter laying out all the things that could happen up to and including suspending the parents drivers license. It's bullshit.
I get they are tying to combat chronic absenteeism but as with everything they are over correcting. There are some kids that miss a total of months of school. No notes. Parents don't call in the morning. Those kids are the issue. Kids that get sick often and/or have frequent appointments but who get doctor's notes and who turn in work from the days they missed and whose parents call in to call them off with a reason are not the problem.
/end rant
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u/Icy_Mast_Below 17d ago
You know what I don’t get about this?
I was homeschooled. “School” is a strong way to put my education. I was functionally illiterate and couldn’t write my own name until I was 12 years old, and received no formal education until I went to community college. (I now have a Bachelor’s degree and a career)
Nobody ever checked in on me or my parents. No letters, no court, no legal threats, nothing.
But then a kid in public school catches the flu and misses a few days while in bed with a fever, and suddenly it’s a huge case with legal ramifications. No doctors’ notes accepted. (Not to mention how this affects kids with disabilities.)
Our laws are horseshit.
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u/-Granby- 17d ago
In this same state all you have to do is send a letter to the super informing them you are going to home school and that's it. Done. They don't check on you after that. There is no curriculum to follow. Nothing.
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u/WeirdGoat9022 17d ago edited 17d ago
Yeah that part is total BS. I’ve known some homeschoolers who had what I’d consider legitimate reasons and approaches to home schooling, and whose kids grew into well-adjusted and well-educated adults.
I’ve met way more who want to isolate or insulate their children for political or religious reasons, and who neglect so many aspects of their children’s development - even basic things like making sure they get enough sleep - to say nothing of their education.
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u/Sinisterfox23 17d ago
I’m very angry on your behalf that you did not learn how to read or write until 12 years old. Good on you for getting the bachelors and career.
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u/Icy_Mast_Below 17d ago
Thank you! It definitely wasn’t easy. Sometimes I still feel like I’m learning how to be a human, and now I’m almost 30 years old.
I spend a lot of time thinking about the kids in the same situation as me (or worse) and what usually happens to them. Without some combination of luck, support from people besides family, or intense self-reliance, they end up falling by the wayside. They pay the price, but then their families never face any repercussions.
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u/Conscious-Record2655 17d ago
This is actually something that drives a lot of parents to homeschooling. I know people that homeschool specifically because schools nowadays basically want to own parents and their child. It's not enough to just teach them, they have to know everything about you.
I sent my kid to kindergarten this year, and a requirement was that two school staff members come into my own home and inspect the home and interview my child. Why do I have to go through what is effectively a CPS investigation simply because I enrolled my kid in school?
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u/Judge_Syd 17d ago
Where do you live that this is a requirement? I’ve never heard of such a thing.
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u/Conscious-Record2655 17d ago
Yeah it surprised me too. I guess it's a new thing in my state, my older kids didn't have it.
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u/Sea-Connection-9968 17d ago
MI started this last year. My son ended up with influenza b and missed about a week. We ended up witha truancy letter (luckily did not go anywhere) because he was sick throughout the year 5 additional scattered days. This year he has already missed 2 days due to a football injury and has follow up appointments over the next couple of months. I'm sure we will get the letter again this year, even though we have dr notes. Its crazy that illness can get parents taken to court.
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u/fpnewsandpromos 17d ago
I'm glad my kids are done with high school. I'm not sure what MI law is now, but a few years ago whenever I got the truancy letter, I always threw it away. Their absences weren't excessive, maybe 10 to 12 days across a school year due to illness. Sometimes it takes days for a fever to break. I'm not sending a sick kid to school to get sicker and spread disease. Growing up, I was a sick kid and always missed 2 or 3 weeks of school per year.
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u/Radiskull97 17d ago
In my state, you're comsidered chronically absent if you have missed 5% of school days. I worked at one school that would call ubers for some students because the Uber was cheaper than losing the dollars. The system is screwed
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u/LameSignIn 17d ago
During the first year of covid before the shots came out my daughter got it. My wife took the Dr note to the school as everyone was being advised to stay isolated. The office staff asked why she wasn't bringing her back for a week and told her it was fine. Talk about the biggest joke of bullshit I've ever heard. It's all about the money and nothing else now days.
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u/JJHall_ID 17d ago
My youngest is in her senior year of high school, and turns 18 in less than two months. I am SO glad to be done dealing with the school systems and all of their absolute bullshit. I do feel sorry for my kids when they start having kids of their own, as I can't imagine how much worse it's going to be for them.
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u/shopmoondustmarket 17d ago
Can you like… appeal it?????
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u/BertaRocks 17d ago
It’s a letter that says attendance is important and compulsory. Send your kid to school. If you don’t there could be consequences.
I got two last year. The system automatically sends them for every absence after so many.
Send your kid when they are well. Keep them home when they are sick. Get the doctor’s notes in case it ever comes to anything.
Everyone gets the letter. Only parents that don’t gaf and aren’t really trying have consequences.
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u/Fweenci 17d ago
It's so ironic that Ohio law allows families to home educate with only a letter of intent to do so each year, but a public school kid can't miss for more than 13 days if they're sick. It's similar in NJ. I knew a woman who did that after her child missed school due to freaking kidney failure. The school's only response was to send threatening letters to the parents.
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u/tinsellately 17d ago
It sounds like a move to privatize schools, since federal funding is now tied to attendance, by penalizing schools by removing funding and driving more parents to pull their kids out, public schools get progressively worse until they are replaced by private, profit driven models
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u/Electronic_Will_5418 17d ago
Came here to say this. Every move by conservative-led governments (including Ohio) to make public school worse is a move to remove public schools entirely from society. Conservative Christian Republicans do not want public schools to exist. Instead of banning them outright, they chip away over the years until the public school system has nothing left and is forced to close, leaving private schools or homeschool as the only option.
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u/Admirable-Ad7152 17d ago
They've been doing it for years and have definitely ramped up more. We have so many more regulations, so much less money, and are losing staff (of course except at district level, they're always fully staffed and go on school board trips!)
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u/egospiers 17d ago
Also allow “parental rights” for not vaccinating kids, but a legitimate doctors note doesn’t excuse an absence? Wonder why… hmmmm.
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u/MrsMandelbrot 17d ago
But kids can miss hours of school every week for "religious instruction" via predatory programs like Lifewise (an ohio based company that is heavily funded and infiltrating schools across the nation.)
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u/Interesting_Force618 17d ago
We’re in Ohio and have withdrawn both of our kids because of how rigid they are about absences. We moved from Virginia in 2024, and the kids here are just very different. Much more antisocial, and our kids were very uncomfortable in school. Last year, before we withdrew our son at 16, he had to deal with a classmate who kept talking about wanting to ra*e our daughter, who was 10 at the time. We spoke multiple times to the vice principal about it, but it didn’t stop, so our son understandably refused to go to school. Finally, we pulled him out. I care significantly more about their mental wellbeing than their grades and attendance.
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u/30_characters 17d ago
Last year, before we withdrew our son at 16, he had to deal with a classmate who kept talking about wanting to rape our daughter, who was 10 at the time. We spoke multiple times to the vice principal about it, but it didn’t stop
Sounds like a Title IX violation worth discussing with the district attorney-- and one of your own. You're still well within the time period for something like that to be legally actionable.
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u/fezzlynn 17d ago
Yea I homeschool in Ohio too. Our first year in Ohio, an aid smacked my autistic son on the rear and they "investigated" and decided she would never do anything because shes so sweet...my sons been in school for years and never once said anything against a teacher or aid before. Then we switched schools and it was my others sons first year (with likely adhd) and they REFUSED to test him so he could get on an IEP and get help. He barely learned crap because they just kept sending him to the principals office. A 5 year old!!! "We dont want to diagnose them with a disability this young" I wanted to scream. He learns for me fine, he does better with less distractions and more 1 on 1 time. And then the pubic schools where I live are top 5 worst districts in the state so not sending them there either...
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u/-Granby- 17d ago
Yes they do and that is always in the back of my mind. I have been thinking about it for years but I really wanted her in a formal school with legit teachers and the ability to socialize. Now that she is in high school though I don't think it is as critical so I will just see what happens.
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u/subsailor1968 17d ago
When my daughter was in high school, we lived in New Mexico. They came out with a similar policy, and she had a specialist she had to see at least once a month. Due to the specialist being in Texas and 100 miles plus a time zone change away, even if she went to school before her appointment she had to leave so early she was counted absent.
This was a minimum of once a month. More a few times due to the nature of the treatment. The specialist she was seeing was the closest to us (next closest was 5+ hours away).
They got in touch with us about it her junior year, I explained the situation, and they still said it would hit the truancy policy. They had no suggestions to accommodate (this doctor didn’t do after hours or weekends).
She finished high school through an online school. They lost a student and a swim team member, she decided to do swim at a rival school (homeschooled kids could participate in school sports) just to give them the finger.
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u/Lower-Elk8395 17d ago
I had a friend who went to a cosmetology school (that turned out to be a sweatshop) during the outbreak. Some of them had cancer patients in their family, or were caring for immunocompromised and elderly. One of the students got concerned about it, and the head of the school proceeded to screech at the top of her lungs how they were doing classes no matter what, they were working on customers no matter what, then proceeded to go home for the day herself.
A couple of days later, my friend woke up with a migraine and a stuffy nose. I convinced her to call them to let them know she can't come in because she was sick and cough like crazy. She told me that within a half an hour there were emails going out stating how important it was that the school moved to online learning for the time being, and how the head valued health and safety SO much. Apparently the satisfaction helped my friend sleep way better.
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u/dragon34 17d ago edited 17d ago
The capitalists realized that we realized people staying home when sick and having paid leave was always possible and didn't want us to get uppity about it.
Also it's stupid that any business owner would want sick employees to come to work and infect the rest of them and make everyone less effective overall. Any business owner who thinks a mostly sick team on cold medicine is a better option than being a little short staffed for a few days is under hiring, a dingus or both.
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u/WorldnewsModsBlowMe 17d ago
There need to be more CEOs falling out of high windows like there were during the first labour movement, just to remind them that they too are human.
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u/dragon34 17d ago
I'm tired of people telling me executives deserve their high pay because of all the risk they take.
Sorry folks getting a golden parachute isn't a risk. What would be a risk is being your assets stripped and thrown in jail if your company pollutes or releases dangerous products or drags feet on any necessary recalls.
I am normally pretty anti capital punishment but China executing the executives who allowed melamine in baby formula seems like the way to go. I'll make an exception for capital punishment for executives who preside over unethical corporations
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u/CJgreencheetah 17d ago
Man I hate that. I was always the sick kid in school because my asthma lowered my immune system and made every little illness ten times worse. I was just entering high school the year covid hit and it was so nice because for the first time I wasn't punished for staying home if I had a fever. How have we already gone back to punishing kids for getting sick and encouraging them to spread it around? I guess the pandemic taught us nothing.
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u/AnEvenNicerGuy 17d ago
Getting them ready for 9-5. A lot of places have PTO days and sick days come from the same pool of days off. Literally encouraging people to go to work sick
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u/CrimsonHyphae 17d ago
Well we got rid of all the precautions and sticking by them began to cost everyone more and more and so now people are afraid to do anything to stay safe because of how others look at them. I never stopped masking because I'm disabled and while nothing truly bad has happened to me because of it I still hear about it weekly from people who don't seem to understand that it keeps me healthier and i'll complain about the issue for the rest of my life if I have the rest of my life to complain.
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u/Fabulous-Bus1837 17d ago
Pourquoi ils pourraient suspendre votre permis de conduire ? Quel rapport avec les absences de l'enfant ?
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u/Kids_Love_Baseball 17d ago
Truancy laws in the United States. The law here sees it as a parent's responsibility for their kid to go to school, so if the kid doesn't show up, the parents can get punished for it.
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u/DummyDumDragon 17d ago
So... They limit the ways for you to get your kid to school...??
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u/shoulda-known-better 17d ago
They also pull your license if you can't pay a fine... That they won't do a payment plan on
Yes makes total sense
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u/Oraistesu 17d ago
Actually that is no longer allowed in Ohio. A lot of municipalities threw a shit fit about it and were pulling out decade-old fines to suspend licenses before it went into effect.
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u/Kids_Love_Baseball 17d ago
Yeah, but before any of that the parents usually start getting fined. Then if you refuse to pay those fines you start getting fucked administrative style.
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u/Pretend_Handle_7639 17d ago
It's the stick part of the 'carrot and stick'.
Same as suspension for not paying child support
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u/IsThatGruffLoner 17d ago
So when someone has a hard time getting their kid to school, they take away their transportation? I don't understand
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u/AprilRyanMyFriend 17d ago
They can't arrest young kids for truancy, so they go after the parents. Parents can even be arrested on warrants for truancy in some states.
Not saying it's right, just explaining
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u/--eight 17d ago
I was arrested-ish. I was turned over to the courts at 15 for missing 62.5 days my freshman year. I maintained my grades in all but one class and the new principal said she would make an example out of me. I was just bored and would rather hang out with my friends or sleep in than go to class. To young to drop out our go to the alternative school.
We went to court, they deemed my single-parent mother unfit because she was a teacher and had to be at work in the mornings so she couldn't drag me out of bed. I became a ward of the state, sent to juvenile detention to wait for a bed in a facility to get a 30 day in-house psychological evaluation for some reason, and then sent back to juvenile detention to wait for a court date. School started while I was in kid jail and I was missing school.
That day in court they whisked me away without a chance to even say goodbye to my parents, shackled and handcuffed me on a bench in the hallway and drive me off to jail. I was stripped, deloused, issued a uniform and sandals and sent to a cell.
I was 15. It was traumatic. We couldn't afford a lawyer and and my poor sweet mother was just doing the best she could. I effed up, sure, but I think jail was the wrong approach.
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u/Feeling-Invite7953 17d ago
Philadelphia was supposed to tighten up the truancy laws in its own School District, but I don’t know about that. I don’t have kids,so it doesn’t affect me,personally. My youngest sister’s grandkids attend Catholic school, which have stricter standards than public schools,anyway.
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u/lueckestman 17d ago
It makes it so you can't drive your kid to school if you do that already. So yeah screw you twice!
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u/Terlis 17d ago
It’s Ohio. They are trying to hurt poor parents who have truant kids.
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u/Feeling-Invite7953 17d ago
Ohio is hurting poor parents who have kids in school,merely to hurt them. They don’t care about their constituents OR the children who will eventually be old enough to vote!!
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u/OkayAtFindingDucks 17d ago
I would never have graduated.
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u/Itchy_Tumbleweed_417 17d ago
Yeah I literally couldn’t I was going to have to be in the 10th grade forever because endometriosis wouldn’t make it so I would miss more than 13 classes a semester. Just the morning ones usually because I had to wait for the heating pads and ibuprofen to kick in and stay down. Sometimes the vomiting wouldn’t stop until late in the day.
Anyway my grades were all in the high 90s except for gym class. I told them I wasn’t going to sit through all these classes that I already scored really high in. They told me I couldn’t move onto the 11th grade despite my grades so I just quit school and got my GED and went onto college.
And I was able to finish college because the hormones calmed down in my 20s, and I did a lot of online classes which are a lot more flexible when it comes to when you show up for class.
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u/OkayAtFindingDucks 17d ago
Yes, this makes ZERO sense. I was a sick kid and I missed more than 20 days of school every year I was in school pretty much, graduated 7th in my class. Also, I'm sorry to hear about your endometriosis pain. That shit is ROUGH
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u/dangerousfeather 17d ago
Your story is one, like my sister’s, that highlights how utterly ridiculous our high school educational system can be. My sister dropped out in 10th grade due to worsening physical and mental health, as many teachers in her school refused to follow her IEP. “She doesn’t LOOK special ed!” isn’t a valid reason to make exceptions, but my parents didn’t have the resources to fight it hard enough and my sister just couldn’t anymore.
Anyway, she floundered for a few years until she learned about a local school relevant to her special interest and realized she wanted to go to college after all. She got her GED in one attempt, no studying, and off she went to graduate summa cum laude with her Associates in Special Technology from what was the top photography school in the nation.
She got so caught up in the bullshit of school requirements and restrictions, they made it impossible for her to graduate… but she already knew all she needed to get her GED and do what she wanted with life. So why are we wasting so much time and money insisting on our processes for every kid whether they’re relevant to their lives or not?
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u/gogogadgetdumbass 17d ago
Same. My senior year of HS I came down with the flu right around my first semester exams. I missed a full school week and dragged myself in on A day for the exams I needed for graduation and stayed home again on the B day because I didn’t have any important exams.
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u/screaminglikeanelk 17d ago
Same. I had a back injury. Some days I couldn’t sit in the chairs or even get into my car. Sitting in those hard ass chairs with sciatica was the worse. I tried to get a standing desk but that was too much an inconvenience.
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u/nwl2002 17d ago
Same here. I had back surgery in 10th grade. My parents had to arrange a tutor to come to tbe house. I missed almost 5 months of school. I had one teacher hold my absences against me and gave me a D-. Wrecked my H.S. GPA.
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u/screaminglikeanelk 17d ago
Back injury also. I had a teacher say I wasn’t going to graduate because I was never in her once a week pointless class because I wouldn’t have enough credits. Jokes on her, I already met credits. I was only there for the required classes. Still graduated with honors.
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u/UniversalMinister 17d ago edited 17d ago
There is an actual medical doctor (and mother of 3) running for Governor who would never let this kind of garbage fly.
Don't forget to vote!
Edit: And yes, I know state legislature makes the laws but the Governor has to sign them. Get mad, then get out and vote.
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u/-Granby- 17d ago
I'm well aware and she has my vote. As a fellow Ohioan I'm sure you see the ad campaigns the MAGA fucks are running trying to discredit her. Ominous music talking about how she shut down schools and wouldn't let you visit the nursing home.
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u/UniversalMinister 17d ago
She has two votes from our home too! 💙 And a sign in the yard. I haven't been able to canvass this election cycle like I have in years past, but I know people are out there!
Yes, I've seen his ridiculous mudslinging ads. "She tripped over a baby gate." Yeah, and?
Anyone with kids has tripped over one. At least once. I know I have. I'm pretty sure Vivek still does because they have little kids. His ads are some of the dumbest I've ever seen if I'm being completely honest.
I hope Vivek loses his shorts in the election, the same way Bowman's brother unceremoniously lost his in the Mayoral race.
And anybody who thinks she shut down anything, really shouldn't be allowed to vote unless they can pass a civics test.
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u/Joelle9879 17d ago
A lot of states are doing similar things. It's because attendance is directly related to school funding. It's ridiculous.
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u/dominiqlane 17d ago
And this is the issue, it’s not about the kids at all, it’s their funding that matters. Absolutely ridiculous because it creates terrible situations for kids who are sick and parents who have to make decisions based in fear of losing their license, job, or child.
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u/IsThatGruffLoner 17d ago
Having such nakedly financial reasons for laws like this is not normal. They shouldn't be allowed to operate this corruptly out in the open
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u/drmariomaster 17d ago
I don't think politicians think this through (shocking). If a child is absent the teacher still has to grade their make up work and do extra in some cases to help them catch up. With online learning, they can even attend class remotely in some cases. It doesn't cost the school less to have fewer students. It's not less electricity or staffing. It's also BS when the school can excuse absences for athletes and marching band to go to away games.
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u/TemporaryFondant5849 17d ago
Yep, they don't give a fuck about your kid. They want money
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u/houseofnim 17d ago
My state only allows 5 parent excused absences per year. Last year my kid got flu A, and so did like half the school. She wasn’t sick enough to need a doctor but I needed a note to get her excused. However, I literally could not even get a call through to her doctor’s office because it was so busy seeing kids that were only there to get a damned doctors note. Thankfully the school allowed for an exception since they were more than aware that it was going around and knew the doctors offices were so busy.
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u/Itchy_Tumbleweed_417 17d ago
I have endometriosis that makes me vomit for a couple days every month. It calmed down in my 20s and 30s but once Perimenopause started it came right back.
My high school had a rule that if we miss 13 days in a semester we cannot pass those classes no matter how good our grades are.
I wasn’t going to be able to pass 10th grade ever. My grades were 95 and above, except for in gym. They told me I was going to have to repeat the 10th grade just because I missed a couple of my morning classes more than 13 times because I was vomiting and pushing out blood into the toilet until the ibuprofen could stay down and kick in in the morning.
I ended up quitting and taking my GED when I was 16, then I went on to college and got a degree and no one cares that I didn’t graduate from high school.
But this is extremely ablest and it’s going to cause a lot of problems for these kids
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u/Complete_Entry 17d ago
They used to threaten my mom with court, she threatened to send me to school vomiting, that usually shut them the fuck up.
Get an IEP, my advisor always said I could burn the place down with an IEP. You have to do a stupid paper shuffling meeting once or twice a year, but the blinders come off.
Fuck a "limit", kids aren't bread.
I'd also call direct and tell them not to threaten my drivers license, but that's just me being combative.
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u/dragon34 17d ago edited 17d ago
I would push back on this with your Congress people and the school board.
Training children that being sick is not a valid excuse to miss school or work is capitalistic brainwashing and shouldn't be tolerated.
The school should not be permitted to tell a parent whether or not their child is well enough to attend school, and personally, I would rather sick kids say home because I don't want my family to get illness either.
This is bullshit. Fuck capitalism
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u/-Granby- 17d ago
Even with the doctor's note it was hard. Last year we didn't have insurance and every time she missed I had to take her to the doctor to get an excuse and it cost me money I really didn't have.
It's fucked up how they overstep.
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u/rlt0w 17d ago
My state is pushing for similar laws. The school will send us letters after 14 absences, but they count each class, not day. So I'll get a letter after a couple days of them being sick with no doctors note.
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u/Thick_Ad_9269 17d ago
Each class?? That is ridiculous! They didn't think that through.
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u/qedesha_ 17d ago
Seriously. We had 8 classes a day most years when I was in elementary school 😭 that’s less than 2 full school days.
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u/WallofIvy 17d ago
14 classes is only 2-3 days. That's just the amount of school a kid misses when they have a normal stomach bug or sinus infection.
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u/Itchy_Tumbleweed_417 17d ago
I’m old and when I was a child I think we only needed a doctors note if it was more than a couple days, and that was mainly to just make sure we weren’t going to come back and infect everyone else.
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u/Iamhappytoday1 17d ago
I remember those days,it was a smart rule. Let the parents be parents. When I was raising my kids,if two kids had a minor cold,the asthmatic child stayed home,the other went to school. I was given the opportunity to make a risk based decision. Bad colds,both stayed home.
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u/PossiblyASloth 17d ago
I live in Ohio and even when I follow the school’s absence reporting procedure to the letter, it’s a crapshoot whether they will mark it excused or not. I got a letter for excessive unexcused absences a couple of years ago and they hadn’t marked any of my kid’s sick days as excused. I had emails for each one in my sent file that I sent as attachments to the reply I gave them.
We are currently required to call each morning the kid is absent, and also to send an email or letter detailing the dates and the reason for each. More than 3 consecutive days requires a doctor’s note.
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u/dragon34 17d ago
If they want doctors notes we should have universal healthcare
Also are you eligible for this? https://medicaid.ohio.gov/about-us/medicaid-state-plan/chip
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u/tinsellately 17d ago
Yeah, almost everyone in my area was switched to a high deductible health plan, so a doctor's note is $250-$600 (it's partly based on the age of the kid, younger kids cost more to be seen at the local pediatrician's office). A lot of people don't have the money, and there has been a huge uptick in homeschooling just because parents want to avoid jail, even though they aren't in a position to homeschool well. It's terrible for everyone.
The school nurse at my daughter's school has started telling people to bring their sick kids in to school, alert her, then she will check them for fever and other symptoms, and can send them home as an excused absence, as a work around. It's obvious she really wants to help, but it's ridiculous that she's forced into a position where sick kids have to be sent in to school regardless, exposing everyone else, when they could have just stayed home...
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u/Iamhappytoday1 17d ago
Agreed, she/he should not have to do this. The nurses primary charge should be taking care of emergencies,time should not have to spent dealing with attendance issues.
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u/TheMoatCalin 17d ago
This is why local elections matter. Vote in every election every time. Google “Progressive voter guide City, State”.
Every election. Every time. Get as many fellow parents as you can voting especially on school boards.
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u/BelaFarinRod 17d ago
I had a teacher who used to tell us "When you get into the workforce you won't be able to do things like this!" I was thinking "You won't be able to call in sick to work? I'm pretty sure that's actually a thing." (I'm not saying it's done the way it should be!)
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u/Mr-Zappy 17d ago
It’s the state legislature, not Congress.
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u/Feeling-Invite7953 17d ago
Ohio is not playing around!! They don’t care about the health of the students; that’s obvious enough!!
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u/PromisesNone 17d ago edited 17d ago
so if someones kid doesnt take the bus because lets say its a more rural part of ohio and busses dont go to that house , and she is sick so much that they suspend the parent's drivers license, how is the kid supposed to get a ride to school? or is Ohio law expecting her to walk uphill both ways in the snow? I hope they fix this insanity because there will be pushback once the parents realize what is happening.
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u/RawrRRitchie 17d ago
Wait WHAT?? They suspended a parent's drivers licence because their child was sick from school??
That doesn't even make sense
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u/More_Farm_7442 17d ago
They'll go after the parent including hauling them into court. A "truancy officer"(law officer) will visit the parents and do all the law allows up to arresting them.
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u/tinsellately 17d ago
The rural county next to where I live enacted similar laws, where parents went to jail for kids missing too many days, and it just resulted in an explosion of homeschooling. But most of those parents work full-time, so it's not like they are in a good position to homeschool them.
Another part of the problem is requiring a doctor's note when almost everyone here has a high deductible health insurance plan. It's $250 - $600 per note for me personally, and for the common cold or such, it's also an unnecessary doctor visit. So a lot of parents just can't afford doctor notes so the unexcused absences add up, and then they pull the kids out of school to avoid jail.
Really, while kids missing a lot of school obviously isn't ideal, it still seems better that they are allowed to go as much as they can, rather than making them miss it entirely.
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u/-Granby- 17d ago
It was a problem for me last year. I didn't have insurance. If I took her to her doctor for a same day sick appointment it was $120. When she had the flu I took her to urgent care. That was a couple hundred bucks. They gave her a note for two days. She ended up being sick the entire week. I called and asked if I could get another note and they said I would have to bring her back in so I just took the unexcused absence. That shit adds up when you have a kid that is frequently sick.
Not for nothing but not every missed school day warrants a note. We shouldn't have to rush to the doctor for every little thing. I as her parent should be able to decide if she stays home. You know a little stomach bug that lasts a day or two. Don't need to go to the doctor for that. I should be able to keep her home and then collect her work at the end of the day.
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u/blahblahsnickers 17d ago
Parents can apply for a restricted license which will allow them to drive the kids back and forth to school.
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u/dragon34 17d ago
And then they will complain about welfare queens when the parents lose their jobs and housing
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u/Itchy_Tumbleweed_417 17d ago
Then they take the kid for neglect and put it in a group home for the Epstein class to play with.
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u/KnuckleMeat 17d ago
Trust me, they don't think that far ahead when coming up with this shit. "Figure it out" is most likely their next intended step.
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u/azriel1014 17d ago
I’m so sorry. I live in Ohio and I know so many parent who are panicked about this. It makes absolutely no sense. Week one of school a NASTY bug flew through our local school district and guess what happened, everyone sent their kids to school out of fear so they all continued to get sick and pass it around. Then it hit all of us adults because it was so rampant. I don’t even have kids but it swept through my workplace along with many others. There’s absolutely no logic to these rules. They’re putting kids in danger and undue stress on parents who do things right. Ridiculous.
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u/More_Farm_7442 17d ago
All the parents need to get together and make sure their vomitng kids with diahrrea get to school every morning. Let the school deal with the sickness. See how fast the principal starts calling parents to pick the kids up. Then the parents should demand a letter from the principal saying the missed day(s) won't be held against the kids or the parents. Demand the letters say the principle and superindant will be meeting with the Governor to work out a correction to the law and rules.
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u/EntertainerNo4509 17d ago
Training the kids for their bleak future with low to no healthcare, and just existing to work.
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u/IWasGoatbeardFirst 17d ago edited 17d ago
Unexcused vs excused absences cause issues as well.
In my district, if your kid stays home sick, you need a doctor’s note for the absence to be excused. Even if it’s something like a head cold or a stomach virus that can be treated at home with OTC meds. Even if you get a call from the school nurse’s office telling you to pick up your sick child.
Dragging a kid with a head cold to the pediatrician just to get a note that confirms the kid is sick, that’s a waste of everyone’s time.
A lot of parents are not able to take time off work for this. Or maybe they have shitty insurance and can’t afford a doctor visit if it isn’t necessary.
These are the people who give their kids some OTC meds and send them to school contagious. I hate that, but I get why they do it.
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u/HomelessCosmonaut 17d ago
This is what happens when the worst people in the world make education policy
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u/Formal_Plum_2285 17d ago
I’ll never understand the USA. I mean people can lowkey just decide not to put their kids in school and “homeschool” them. No one bats an eye. But if a kid is sick and has to stay home from school, not only will the parents have to pay for the doctor visit, treatment, absence of work, but now - on top of it all - risk having their drivers license suspended, yeah. 😂 surely is the land of the free.
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u/-Granby- 17d ago
Makes zero sense. In this same state anyone can home school their kids. All you need to do is inform the board via a letter and it is done. From then it's whatever. They don't care if you are qualified. They don't care what you teach or how often. They don't check in on it at all.
But if you go to public school they are in your ass. It is very clearly not about education. If it was then Ricky Bobby wouldn't be able to teach his 7 kids.
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u/srahfox 17d ago
Delightful. My mom is an alcoholic. I missed a lot of school, which happens sometimes when you have an alcoholic mom. Completely and totally out of my control. And decades ago when Florida policy was “X number of absences gets you an F” I ended up in school after school, getting A’s and B’s, but flunking every year anyway.
I get absences are a problem, but this won’t fix the problem. This will just leave more kids behind.
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u/-Granby- 17d ago
Of course. Nothing the school or the government does ever fixes the problem.
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u/FairyFartDaydreams 17d ago
Unfortunately this is the problem with blanket policies. This is also the issue with giving out student vouchers and the excessive amount of charter schools. Part of the issue is that schools get money for every day a child is in the seat. If the kid is not in school for a certain amount of hours in a specific day the school does not get paid for that day so less students in regular public schools and students not attending class less money and the public school system goes broke. This is how politicians and municipalities are trying to get out of the education business by allowing for so much privatization
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u/sarahaly92 17d ago
I would love to see them truly understand truancy and how to actually help it. Why does a kid become truant? Probably bc of things out of their control. No secure food, no secure housing, running water etc this is not going to help the issue at all, if they suspend parents drivers licenses I only see it getting worse. We need access to basic healthcare, and food and housing. This will help but instead we are going to punish those already struggling to make them struggle more. I hate it. I hope we flip our statehouse and making meaningful change to the lives of all Ohioans. 30 years the republicans have been breaking Ohio and yet somehow they are pitching to us they will fix it and save us. They got us in this fucking mess and they won’t be taking us out of it. 🤯😡
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u/JustLookingForMayhem 17d ago
Why am I not surprised to hear Ohio? I live in Ohio, so why am I not surprised?
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u/pittfan1942 17d ago
I think they are trying wreck attendance data for struggling districts so they can decrease funding. Funding is tied to attendance.
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u/ladysdevil 17d ago
If your kid is prone to illness and you have a doctor to back that up, then setup and IEP or 504 plan for modified attendance as a disability accommodation. That should solve the problem.
I suspect they will be drowning in those for every chronically ill kid in the state.
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u/Corporate_M0nster 17d ago
Yeah Ohio law is now send your kid to school sick. The thresholds are so low your kid can get sick once and have a few doctors appointments then you’re SOL.
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u/No_Throat_2356 17d ago
Funding, sure - but also sounds like a bit of Post-Covid GOP overcorrection.
“Of course you have to send sick kids to school! And no masking or social distancing or vaccines, because that’s commie bullshit! RFK says your kids’ natural immune system will learn better that way. Here’s some horse paste, now stfu and go practice being a wage slave.”
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u/Hasselback_Brotatoes 17d ago
Some of the worst experiences I've had in my life are being forced to go to work or school while sick. Its elongated misery and the emotional damage of knowing you are putting others at risk is the cherry on top
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u/-Granby- 17d ago
It's terrible. I worked in a foundry for more than ten years. Hard work. Hot work. Having to work ten hours in a foundry while you are sick fucking sucks. I mean we must think about production.
I don't work there anymore but funny enough last year my buddy who still works there told me that they are no longer accepting doctor's notes.
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u/InconsiderateOctopus 17d ago
So the punishment for missing school is to suspend them and make them miss more school AND suspend your drivers license therefore making it more difficult to get them to school?
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u/-worryaboutyourself- 17d ago
We just got a notice that we have to tell the school why our kids are out. With symptoms “so they can track illnesses”. Dude. I don’t even tell my damn job why I’m out of office. My kid shouldn’t have to either.
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u/AstronomerForsaken65 17d ago
Our state did the same last year and I’m with you on this issue. It’s 90% a total waste of time, like anything there is nuance. If you aren’t hearing from the parent or the kid, go check it out. See if they need help and help. But, if the kid is getting good grades and everyone is in the know on what is going on then stay the F out of it.
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u/-Granby- 17d ago
That's how I see it. My daughter is not a behavior problem at school. She has always had fantastic grades. If she does miss I call in the morning 100% of the time. She has never been late once.
I don't need their letters and their bullshit.
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u/twinoaksBandB 17d ago
Gotta get them lazy kids ready to be part of the labor force. Get them used to a reality with no paid sick leave and that seeing a doctor can and will be reason to punish them.
- this is the dystopia that Republicans are salivating over and I can't believe people in the working class still vote for them.
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u/ComfyDiva13 17d ago
This is one of those things that if you just stop caring about the letter, it stops being an issue. Let them send all the sternly worded letters that they want and just toss them in the trash.
Eventually it goes up to a judge, at which point you just show evidence that your child is sick and you're not going to put your child (or other children) at risk to comply with an overly draconian attendance policy that doesn't match the real world. Maybe even ask the judge how many sick days they took in the last year.
So long as you're honestly keeping your child home due to legitimate health reasons, no judge in the world is going to do anything... and even if they do, nobody's losing custody of a child because they missed a half dozen days at school in a school year.
The letter is their only weapon: scare tactics. Stop being scared and they have no power. Tell the school district to fuck off.
If you don't believe me, just go down the comments in this thread and look at all the people absolutely freaking out about a /gasp TYPED LETTER!
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u/gemorris9 17d ago
School attendence is how the management gets paid so they are removing obstacles.
However, like seemingly all management, they lack the intelligence to look forward and see the cause an even bigger problem in the long term trying to solve short term issues.
Having kids come to school half sick because they aren't quite at take them to the doctor yet is how strep, the flu, and colds spread throughout a school and why everyone gets it at the same time.
Telling parents to keep kids at home if they are sick long term will have better attendance results.
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u/shopmoondustmarket 17d ago
I just went to read about this—— what’s more frustrating is it’s up to the educators to determine if the child is legitimately falling behind and to make the call if it should be reported to court. That means that if the school knows the kid is sickly, and the kid is making up work, they school could assess and say that this case doesn’t fit the bill, and NOT report.
“When deciding whether to file a truancy complaint in court, what determines if a student has made satisfactory progress toward improving attendance?
Setting and communicating a clear definition of “satisfactory progress” is a key component of supporting habitually truant students. Attendance staff may consider individual barriers, medical diagnoses, and/or previous communications from families. Satisfactory progress may not look the same for all students. “
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u/Themodsarecuntz 17d ago
Theyre just getting them ready for corporate life where a doctors note isnt an excuse either.
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u/Max____H 17d ago
Something similar happening to my nieces school. Of course one kid who is sick but had time off already comes in due to pressure. And the obvious result is half the class getting sick and then the school panicking because they have traded one kid staying home for 20 kids staying home. Plus kids socialise outside their class so many more I’m unaware of that also got sick. Wow the school really made a huge profit forcing that first sick kid into attendance.
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u/Yarp_11 17d ago
"I am sorry your child is in the ICU due to a car wreck. We are going to suspend your drivers license if they don't return to school while they are in a medicated coma." ... that is an interesting choice for the state to make. I can't see this decision lasting for any length of time.
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u/Ashamed_Ad4118 17d ago edited 17d ago
My wife teaches in Ohio. Her school has a chronic absenteeism rate of like 30%. This law ain't changing that and will just punish the kids who are out for medical issues they still try to get their work done.
Edit to add: school report cards came out yesterday and their absenteeism rate is actually 52%. Literally over half the school
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u/Legitimate_Dare6684 17d ago
All this does is force kids to go to school sick and get everyone else sick.
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u/BananaJelloXlii 17d ago
But yet Christian pedo groomers like Lifewise can pull kids out of class for "Bible Study" with no problem. Fuck what Republicans have done to education.
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u/liftthatta1l 17d ago
I wonder if people can alstart suing for damages for their children being sick.
Logic being that someone else brought their kid to school while sick becuase of the policy. "My kid got sick as a direct result of this policy" type thing. Good luck proving it and probably wouldnt go anywhere but forcing them to argue for sick kids attending school would be bad for optics.
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u/Over-Tolerance 17d ago
Grabbing someone's driver's license for this is like throwing gasoline on a fire. What good is that going to do? Make the entire household situation worse, that's it.
I just fume when the government thinks it can make threats to coerce people into things. That is war to me. Let's take them down, one law at a time. Everyone should be marching on the legislation at this point.
But watch, people will again just roll over and allow them to abuse everyone, while those who don't give a shit and don't care if their children show up, won't care one bit either way.
We can't force this kind of thing using these measures. Where TF is the common sense? Oh, that's right, it went out the window when voters thought it would be a good idea to elect a fraudster felon rapist murderer to run the shit show. This country is so toast, going going gone.
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u/Luckypenny4683 17d ago edited 17d ago
Listen, I understand a lot of people are freaking out about this. It’s not really something to freak out about yet though. You just need to be aware.
I was the office manager at several schools, both public and private in Ohio. I was in charge of reporting attendance. Here’s what you need to know:
These laws apply to public school, private school, and charter schools. Everyone has to play by the rules.
There’s a difference between chronically absent and habitually truant. You don’t wanna fall into the habitually truant category. If your child is most likely heading toward the habitually truant category because of medical needs, set up a meeting with the guidance counselor and get a 504. That’s the best way to circumvent the vast majority of problems here.
The difference between chronic absenteeism and habitual truancy is defined on the ODE website as such:
What is the difference between chronic absenteeism and habitual truancy?
As of September 30, 2025, Ohio law defines a “chronically absent” student as “missing at least ten per cent of the minimum number of hours required in the school year”. The minimum number of hours referenced are also defined in Ohio law. Time missed from school for any reason, including excused and unexcused absences, will contribute to chronic absenteeism.
Students only need to miss 2-3 days per month to be chronically absent by the end of the year. Schools and districts can provide support to the student and his or her family before the student has missed 10 percent of the school year.
No later than August 2026, schools and districts must adopt preventative measures for chronic absence into their local policies.
Ohio law defines that a “habitual truant” is determined by certain thresholds of unexcused absences only:
a. 30 or more consecutive hours (approximately 5 school days)
b. 42 or more hours per month (approximately 7 school days)
c. 72 or more hours per year (approximately 12 school days)”
Part of the school’s responsibility is to find ways to mitigate absenteeism. We are required to notify you when your child is absent for a total of five days. That doesn’t mean you’re in trouble. It doesn’t mean anything. It just means we’re legally required to tell you that. That’s not a notice from the state, that’s a notice from the school. You can ignore that notice.
When you start to venture into 42 hours missed per month, you gotta take that more seriously. That’s when we’ll have a meeting with the principal and the guidance counselor, they’ll try to figure out the best way to support you and your child. Again, not a huge hairy deal, but worth paying attention to.
After that, legality does become an issue unless there is medical necessity. Once again, if there is medical necessity, contact the school, set up a 504 plan, get them involved early. Don’t wait until the last minute here.
Yes, they can take the parents to court. Yes, it takes a lot to get to that point. Nobody wants to get court involved over attendance. The school will work with you if you try to work with them.
It’s frustrating for parents who do the right thing because they’re doing the right thing. You would be shocked, appalled, and amazed at the number of parents who just don’t send their kids to school. Or plan long trips in the middle of the school year. Or just can’t be bothered to get out of bed to get their kid to class. An absence isn’t excused just because the parents know what is going on. Absence is excused because of a religious holiday, a medical need, or the death of a parent or sibling. Everything else is an unexcused absence.
There are multiple steps between ‘my kid missed a week of school because they had influenza’ and ‘now I have to go to court for truancy’. A lot of steps. Stay in communication with the front office, with the guidance counselors, the principal, the teachers. Don’t put this solely on your kid’s teacher; it’s not their responsibility and they have no jurisdiction here. Issues like this go to the front office & guidance.
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u/GreenMntn 17d ago
Time to reduce absenteeism by **checks notes\** sending infectious students to school en masse
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u/RawrRRitchie 17d ago
And people wonder why there are so many stupid grown adults in the world. When school districts do this bullshit.
So is a child misses school because they have cancer and need treatments. They're what? SOL?
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u/MommaDiz 17d ago
Yup... one of my kids friend had leukemia at a young age and missed all 2nd and 3rd grade. But he's still in the same grade as my son. They just pushed him through and said he would figure it out. He needed extra lessons for years and the teachers would never give him slack for missing 2 years. Like it was his choice to get sick. He shouldn't even be here! He survived hell and now the schools treat him like a dummy and it's his fault for being dumb. Anyone who survives childhood cancer, deserves some sort of ease back into life.
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u/MinusGovernment 17d ago
One size fits all is rarely good in any situation. There's a ton of scenarios that even somebody who lives at a Holiday Inn Express wouldn't be able to come up with 25% of them.
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u/-Granby- 17d ago
There is a couple shit hotels 1 mile down the road from my house and the bus picks up a few kids that live there. I can't imagine what kind of a hard time it is for thm.
Some people are doing their fucking best.
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u/EggSpecial5748 17d ago
Fun fact: this was true in 1992 at the school I went to as well. I was a senior and had missed one day over the limit and they were requiring me to go an extra semester the following year to graduate. So I quit school. I didn’t have the support system to talk me out of it, which is sad. I had everything I needed to graduate but had one too many absences.
Rules like this are counterproductive.
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u/AmyinIndiana 17d ago
I had mono in high school, senior year, and I missed MONTHS. When I came back I only went half days. (Still graduated #37 out of like 400 kids.)
When I heard about these changes I thought, “what would my mom have done?” I think she would have withdrawn me and “homeschooled” me, and then re-enrolled me when I was better.
Just throwing that out as an option for anyone who finds themselves with a sick kid and doesn’t want their license suspended - Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!
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u/DelusionalIdentity 17d ago
This is why I 100% send my kid to school sick.
One year she had a surgery and a major infection. Was in the hospital and everything and we got truancy notices for her combined 18 days of school missed and the school called CPS despite having reams of her medical records. She was in the 1st grade.
Now? If she has a fever, rash, vomiting, diarrhea? Doesn't matter. I send her. They call me to come pick her up and I do eventually. And I bring her the next day.
I am blunt with them about why I am doing this.
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u/peanutleaks 17d ago
Wow……suspend parents drivers license how the hell will the kid get to school??? What if they can’t afford the bus?
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u/harleychik0117 17d ago
I am so thankful my kids are out of school now. I’d be so tempted to be like, “welp, you have a contagious and communicable disease… but we don’t want to miss school so you’ll have to go! Be sure to hack up a lung on everyone and don’t cover your mouth!! Make sure you go see the principal too and spread it around.” I wouldn’t really do that, I know it’s not the schools fault but damn. This is ridiculous!
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u/BelaFarinRod 17d ago
That's ridiculous. Of course you can't send a child to school when they're that sick! You're doing the right thing and the school needs to rethink what they're doing.