The Kentucky General Assembly has passed a new law, HB 611, aimed at addressing student attendance. This legislation mandates that students throughout Kentucky who accumulate 15 or more unexcused absences be referred to their local County Attorney's office. The goal of HB 611 is to reduce unexcused absences, promote consistent attendance, and ensure students receive the support they need to stay engaged in school.
To comply with the new law, Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) will begin the mandatory referral process to the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office (JCAO) this month. Unexcused absences are those that are not reported to a school or when a student does not produce a valid reason for missing school.
“Every child deserves to receive their education,” said Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell. “My office will push an outreach campaign to guardians of children in grades K-5 who may be chronically absent because even the most conscientious elementary student still needs the assistance of an adult to regularly get to school.”
All JCPS schools are committed to providing support and resources to help improve student attendance. School leaders use multiple interventions in an effort to preemptively keep a student from reaching the 15 unexcused absence threshold. Counseling, parent conferences, and family team meetings are among the interventions employed to encourage students to show up for classes. Every school also has an attendance support team, school-based mental health team, and access to other district resources to provide wraparound services to students struggling with chronic absenteeism. JCPS will continue to communicate with families as attendance issues arise.
Letters will be sent from the JCAO starting this month to parents/guardians of students in grades K-5 who may have 15 or more unexcused absences stating that their child’s lack of attendance could result in a criminal charge. JCPS will continue to offer wraparound services to the student and families and O’Connell pointed out that taking a parent/guardian to court is only a last resort.
“As these letters will state, ‘Neither my office nor the JCPS system wishes to prosecute anyone. We simply want your child to receive the education that all children deserve,’” O’Connell said.
Chronic absenteeism is a national issue that has gotten worse since the COVID-19 pandemic. Last school year, 24 percent of JCPS students had 15 or more days of unexcused absences compared to 11 percent in 2018-19, the last full school year before the pandemic. JCPS’ chronic absenteeism rate (defined as missing more than 10 percent of school days) ranked 41st highest among Kentucky’s 171 public school districts in the 2022-23 school year.
“Research is clear that students learn best when they are in school receiving face-to-face instruction from a teacher,” said Dr. Marty Pollio, JCPS superintendent. “We will continue our best efforts to get kids to school through support and encouragement. However, there comes a time when even the Herculean efforts of our staff aren’t enough and we could use help from others. That’s what will be happening as the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office joins our efforts.”