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Burlington schools to revise attendance policy to align with DESE chronic-absence reporting
Summary
District staff told the committee that aligning local attendance rules with Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) reporting — which treats any absence toward chronic absenteeism regardless of excused status — would trigger earlier outreach to families and could change which families receive warning letters.
District staff and committee members discussed proposed changes to Burlington’s local attendance policy to align with state reporting on chronic absenteeism and to improve earlier family outreach and intervention.
At issue: DESE treats students who attend 90% or less of school days (18 or more absences in a 180-day calendar) as chronically absent whether absences are recorded as excused or unexcused. Burlington’s current local policy treats parental calls as excused absences and does not always trigger the same early outreach that DESE expects.
Robin, a district attendance coordinator, told the committee that…
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