Madison School Board Member Juan Jose Lopez discussed tonight’s of the Madison Board of Education meeting agenda with WORT’s Tony Casteneda this morning. MP3 audio file. The MMSD has cancelled tonight’s Board meeting based on a Wisconsin Statute.
2 thoughts on “Discussion of The Special Madison School Board Meeting on Student Absences”
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State law allows parents to request excused absences, so the meeting has been cancelled, according to a press release from the MMSD:
For immediate release
Thursday, April 06, 2006
State law allows parents to excuse their child from school Excuse must be in writing and in advance of the absence
There is a provision in Section 118.15 of the Wisconsin Statutes that allows a parent to excuse his/her child from school attendance for up to 10 days for any reason, if the parent notifies the school in writing before the absence.
Under this law, the students’ parents who want to have their child’s absence from school to be excused for attending an April 10th rally can do so by merely putting in writing before the rally that the student will not be at school during the time of the rally.
Absences from school for political meetings became an issue this week after requests by students at Monday’s Board of Education meeting to have the school district record, as an excused absence, the students’ absence from school for attending the April 10 rally on the proposed immigration law.
The Board has cancelled a scheduled meeting for today at 5:00 p.m. to address student absences.
In order to ensure that all MMSD middle and high school students are aware of this law, announcements are being made today at these schools. Elementary schools are also being noticed.
Someday when I have more time and less bile, I’ll tell you how the district tried to punish our son by allowing a teacher to dock “participation points” (points awarded for simply occupying a seat in class) during excused absences. These excused absences were classes missed, not for a protest march, but for a piano recital during fine arts week, sitting for AP exams and a trip to Thailand approved in advance by the high school.
Now, because the political winds support kids skipping school, it’s okay to cut class. (see:http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/letters/index.php?ntid=79138&ntpid=2)
Don’t get me wrong, we allowed our daughter to skip school to participate in the Books Not Bombs march preceeding the Iraq invasion, notifying West ahead of time under the provisions of the statute Rainwater has “just” discovered. However, we are very familiar with the district’s policy about what constitutes an “excused” absence, one under which a student has the right to make up all missed work, including those “butt-in-the-seat” participation points. And now it looks like the district is changing its view on what an excused absence means. There is a difference between being excused and not being truant under state law—at least there used to be…
Personally, I welcome the change. Families should be able to enrich their kids lives outside the confines of the school term, within limits. Some folks may decide that is a ski trip, others a trip to NYC to see the museums and plays, others, deer hunting, or a protest march. The district should stay out of the business of deciding which one is more legitimate.