System hopes to
put an end to
‘doctor-hopping’
to obtain excuses

By Mary Garrison
Tribune-Courier Features Editor
mgarrison@tribunecourier.com

DRAFFENVILLE – Parents of students in the Marshall County School system can expect some changes in school attendance policies in the upcoming school year.

In her first year in the position, Marshall County Director of Pupil Personnel Ledonia Williamson said she found some disturbing trends in student attendance.

Of the approximately 4,700 students in the school district, Williamson said a small percentage, 86 for the past year, have been habitually absent.

So much so, that all totaled, those 86 students missed 2,159 days of school. Most of the absences were excused. Some 30 of those students attend Marshall County High School, where attendance problems are most frequent, and account for over 700 absences total.

“The policy has always been if you have a doctor’s excuse, it’s an excused absence,” Williamson said before the Marshall County School Board on Thursday evening.

Therein the problem lies. Williamson said a number of those absences stem from abusing the system. “Doctor-hopping” has allowed students to report a menial illness to a new doctor and have no problem obtaining excuses for the entire day.

“I had one particular student at the high school that had over 30 excused absences,” Williamson said. “I went to the clinic and did some checking. The last excuse she’d gotten was because ‘her pinky finger hurt.’”

Upon Williamson’s recommendation, the board adopted a new attendance policy and medical excuse form that must be turned in for students that miss in excess of 10 days.

The form is a more in-depth response from doctors, detailing the reason a child is or must be absent. The form also gives doctors a clear indication as to whether or not a student is a habitual offender.

Williamson said she is making visits to every physician, nurse practitioner and clinic in the county to speak with caregivers about the form and leave forms for physician use.

Forms will also be made available to parents in the packet students take home at the beginning of the school year and at the board of education office.

“For those kids with legitimate medical issues, there will be no trouble,” Williamson said. “I don’t want to add any undue stress to any family, but we’ve got to do something about this.”

In addition to the medical forms, one attendance policy has been written for the entire district. In years past, different policies were in place for elementary, middle and high school students.

“It’s been confusing for parents, I’ll be the first to admit,” Williamson said. “It’s difficult to keep up when you’ve got different policies in place for different grade levels.”

All Marshall County students will now have six excused parent “call-ins” for the year. Personal illness, family death, religious holidays, necessary appointments that cannot be made outside of the school day and can be verified, documented court appearances, driver’s test (only for the time that the test is scheduled), failure of the school bus to run, and one excused absence per occurrence of head lice up to three for the year are all considered excused parent call-in absences.

Beyond those absences, students must obtain a doctor’s statement for the absence to be considered excused. Those students missing more than 10 days in a school year must submit the in-depth compulsory medical excuse form thereafter.

Any absence without the form will not be considered excused. After three unexcused absences, a student is considered truant. Habitual truants with six or more unexcused absences will be subject to legal action.

Parents should be careful when calling in for students, however, Williamson advised. The school system has been on a minute-by-minute attendance system in accordance with the state, making “tardies” virtually obsolete.

Anytime a parent calls a school, the call counts as a parent call-in. For this reason, Williamson advised parents with students running a few minutes late should not call, but come in with the child to sign the child in and let school officials know the circumstances.

Williamson said school officials will now be calling parents in the event students are late. She hopes the calls will keep parents from inadvertantly using call-ins, as well as aid in student safety.

“I heard of a case, I’m not sure where, of a little 9-year-old girl that was walking to school and never made it there,” Williamson said. “No one even realized the child was missing until she didn’t make it home from school that afternoon. Her mother called when she hadn’t been home on time, and the school told her she had been absent that day. She had been kidnapped, and no one even knew to start looking for her until late that afternoon.”

• In school finance, treasurer Jill Morris said final budget numbers are not yet certain.

Morris said Gov. Steve Beshear has called the legislation back into special session, and it is anticipated that the governor will attempt to get legislation passed to flat-fund Support Education Excellence in Kentucky.

Morris said the flat-funding would likely cost the schools another 2.6 percent budget cut, however the scenario is better than initally projected.

“Times are really tight right now,” Morris said. “It seems like the governor is doing all he can for us.”

• Summer maintenance is well underway at the county’s schools. Facilities and transportation director Danny Davis said all appears to be running smoothly.

Of the upgrades and repairs, the MCHS gymnasium floor is set to be refinished.

Conrad Floors was recently awarded a bid for $26,500 to strip, sand and refinish the gym floor to prepare for the upcoming year. Davis said the floor will have all new striping, graphics and logos in addition to other aesthetic changes and repairs.