Or is that just too expensive?

Next question.

Last edited Wed Jul 23, 2025, 10:57 PM - Edit history (1)

and the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Act), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

There were periods when my daughter was hospitalized for a week+, or needed to be absent without hospitalization because of one or the other of her two chronic, life-threatening illnesses.

Her ability to be present in school is a medical decision, which the school board is not competent to assess - nor do they have any right to question her or refer her for truancy. And they are not allowed to punish her (mark her absence as unexcused).

Aside from individuals with disabilities, I had a friend in high school with meningitis - would they really have wanted him to attend school in his contagious state? Measles - just for exposure, the recommended quarantine is 21 days from exposure for unvaccinated individuals? Chicken Pox - the last time I checked quarantine was about 10 days.

If they put all their brain cells together, they would still be dangerous.

ETA: The actual policy (here) is not nearly as bad as the administrators quoted in the article suggest.

I'm leaving my initial reaction to emphasize the need to not only read the article (which I did), but also follow supporting links.

It isn't just that doctor's notes don't excuse an absence - nothing excuses an absence. Absences are absences, without being categorized as excused or unexcused.

If there is a diagnosed medical issue, or an ongoing chronic issue, special arrangements will be made and the truancy policies don't apply.

Nothing in the rules says what the administrator was quoted as saying - that doctor's notes won't get you an excused absence.

All students who are absent are permitted to make up the work so they are not failed simply because of absence if they are otherwise passing.

All the truancy interventions apply only if there has not been an attendance plan arranged with the principal of the school (for diagnosed medical conditions or chronic illnesses)

I expect some variation between interpretation and policy, but the amount of variation between the actual policy and the comments by the folks who theoretically wrote it (or will be implementing it) is far more than usual.

That are being snatched off the street. I expect that there will be a huge increase in minor “crime” offenses—even if we have to create new “crimes”

They want to punish 5 yr olds for being human so by the time they are 12 they know how to suffer for low wages. Nothing must get in the way of profit.

Speaking of grooming.....

Attendence down? Just mandate attendence. That will do it.

It's like abortion. Want to reduce the number of abortions? Just ban them. Don't actually think through consequences, like jailing desperate women and their doctors (things that a vast majority of "ban abortion" folk actually think would be bad).

I'm surprised they didn't just ban absences. They think simply banning abortion will end abortion, why not ban absences to end absences?

Give me strength.

I would kill somebody."

I'll have to remember it.

I had been hoping this was The Onion. Appallingly, it is not.

And preventing them from dealing with actual abuse may be Michael Adkins. Someone should check in on his kids. The courts will just gavel these cases closed as a waste of time. I wonder if it will be used as an excuse to deport people.

grave consequences.

To leave the state when they grow up.

what's the worst that could happen?

And missed a solid two weeks of school. I had them in my ears, my throat, - everywhere.

Add to that the normal child sickness and I wound up missing like 21 days that year. It was more than allowed but back then people were not dumbasses and every one understood. The teachers helped me make up the work and life went on. What happened to the world? It seems like the loonies have taken over everything

Its no surprise that they think they know better than the doctors.

It is the GOP eugenics program.

Of course the rich will get all the healthcare and protection they want.

...drop the foreign language requirement in schools.

We are such a long way from where Al Gore could not only get elected in Tennessee but become vice president of the U.S.

Combine things like what Lawrence County is doing here, a general hostility to vaccines among many, dropping foreign language requirements, and funneling public money into private (read Christian) schools, and the current ranking of 32nd in education looks like a high-water mark.

But if you are a manufacturer looking for a large supply of low-wage uneducated workers with no hope of ever doing any better then I guess Tennessee is attractive.

I thought we were better than this, but I am proven more wrong every day. It feels like a literal death-spiral.

Call it a documentary.

"If the student keeps missing school, eight or more days, there will be a juvenile court referral."

And you don't have to guess that this is going to applied totally differently in minority districts vs white districts. They'll follow the Alabama model where young black children end up in juvenile detention centers for things like chewing gum in class, dress code violations, talking out of turn, and being late to school.

My little sister had migraine headaches throughout her teen years and missed a ton of school. Graduated with a 4.0 from a very good private high school and went to college and got her bachelors and masters. But she missed a ton of time, like 15-25 days a year or more.

This is a total joke they're doing this.

from diarrhea caused by C. Diff, they might change their minds on this draconian 🐂 💩.

And within a couple days, more kids will be in the same deep 💩

Seriously. The GOP is trying to get nominated for being the most cruel stupid party in America.

it pleases them.

But the real point is that the journalists didn't do their jobs, and most people aren't bothering to read past the fake news article.

Where they will be required to sacrifice the better part of their lives drudging away for our corporate masters. Sick or not, every moment not spent with one's nose to the grindstone is a moment taken away from generating profits for the idle rich. Best to get kids accustomed to frittering their lives away, sick, in pain, all motivation gone, all hope lost, while they're still in school.

It's things like this that led to the invention of the guillotine...

Whoever wrote that policy should be fired. That's the dumbest thing I've heard in education in years.

What the hell?

with eyes like a reverse raccoon, beaten up only in the sense that the multiple blood draws that morning left me looking like I went several rounds with Ali. But I was an adult, not a child being threatened with juvenile court.

What an incredibly stupid, clueless, tone deaf thing for that asshole to say. If there are children at home, I would say a visit from CPS is in order.