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Quakertown committee backs updated attendance policy requiring notice to cyber schools for habitually truant students
Summary
The Quakertown Community School District policy committee reviewed revisions to Policy 204 to comply with the PA School Code: districts must now provide information when habitually truant students withdraw to cyber charter schools. Officials said the rule targets severe cases and noted existing prioritization of unexcused absences and judicial case paths.
Doctor Hoffman, presenting policy revisions at the Quakertown Community School District policy committee meeting Feb. 2, said updates to Policy 204 align the district with Pennsylvania School Code changes that require districts to provide information to cyber charter schools when students who are habitually truant withdraw.
"Students who are going to withdraw to a cyber charter, who are currently habitually truant, we are now required to provide that information to [the] cyber school," Doctor Hoffman said, explaining the intent is to prevent students from simply transferring after chronic unexcused absences.
Committee members asked how the judicial process intersects with the new requirement. An attendee asked whether a judge must be petitioned to determine habitual truancy; Doctor Hoffman replied judges typically become involved when an open truancy citation exists and outcomes vary — from monitoring and follow-up dates to accepting medical notes or allowing a cyber transfer.
Discussion emphasized the distinction between excused and unexcused absences. One participant noted that absences for medical reasons, surgery or illness should not be counted as unexcused. Doctor Hoffman said the district issues letters at early thresholds (three- and ten-day unexcused absence notices) and strives to account for medical documentation; in some cases the district must retroactively correct automated notices when parent notes arrive late.
Committee members also raised the practical question of parental timing — whether a parent could withdraw a child just before the habitually truant threshold (one member used the example of 19 vs. 20 days). Doctor Hoffman said that, in practice, the policy is intended for more serious patterns of nonattendance (he referenced examples on the order of 30–40 days) and that the district will continue to balance enforcement with reasonable consideration of excused absences.
The committee did not adopt an immediate change to the AR in public session; Doctor Hoffman said staff will continue refining the administrative regulation and provide an end-of-year safety presentation that may include comparative numbers from the prior year.
