Request By:
Fred D. Williams, Superintendent
Fort Thomas City Schools
2356 Memorial Parkway
Fort Thomas, Kentucky 41075
Opinion
Opinion By: Chris Gorman, Attorney General; Lynne Schroering, Assistant Attorney General
You have written our office regarding the attendance policy in effect in your school system. The Fort Thomas Board of Education allows high school seniors to take up to two school days for college visits. The students are given an excused absence for these two days. Since the absence is excused, the students are permitted to make-up any class work missed while they were visiting the colleges.
Specifically, you inquire whether the school district may count the students as being present in school when they are visiting the colleges.
The answer to your question is no. The Department of Education has enacted 702 KAR 7:050 section 2(1) to determine when a child should be counted absent. This regulation provides:
Section 2. (1) Daily attendance: average daily attendance for educational funding. The daily attendance of pupils shall be determined by checking their attendance at least twice per day. Schools, grades, or homerooms may designate the most appropriate time to check attendance, but recording shall be such that half-day or all day attendance is recorded as defined in Section 3 of this regulation. A pupil may be counted in attendance, while not physically present in the classroom if:
(a) The pupil is absent as a participant in a school activity which has been authorized by the local board of education and which is a definite part of the instructional program of the school; or
(b) The pupil is absent as a participant in an activity as provided in either KRS 158.240 or KRS 159.035. Pupils shall not be counted in attendance for determining average daily attendance when they are spectators at school activities.
(2) Daily attendance: recognition purposes. Individual schools, grades, or homerooms shall be permitted to grant attendance awards, based upon a pupil's attendance in school for less than full days. A pupil who is in attendance for at least one (1) instructional period may be deemed present for the day for attendance award and recognition purposes.
We responded to a similar question in OAG 75-694 wherein we held that a school could not count as present those students attending a medical appointment who are physically absent from the school.
Therefore, all students not physically present in the school must be counted absent unless they fall within one of the limited exceptions mentioned in the above regulation. These exceptions include absent students who are participarting in a school activity authorized by the board of education and which is a definite part of the instructional program of the school. 702 KAR 7:050 section 2(1)(a). Absent students shall be counted present if attending classes for moral instruction pursuant to KRS 158.240 or attending 4-H club educational activities pursuant to KRS 159.035. Clearly, an individual student's visit to a college for the purpose of choosing an appropriate school is not encompassed within the limited exceptions listed in 702 KAR 7:050 section 2(1).