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Portsmouth committee adopts revised attendance and truancy policy after a close vote
Summary
The committee approved a revised student attendance and truancy policy (Policy J) on its third reading with five votes in favor, one opposed and one abstention; a member said they had hesitations but chose to abstain.
On its third reading June 9, the Portsmouth School Committee adopted a revised Policy J governing student attendance and truancy. The motion passed with five members in favor, one opposed and one abstention, after a brief discussion during which one committee member said, "I still have my hesitations, but I don't want to derail it. I'm just going to abstain." The policy language and the committee’s markup were presented in both clean and redlined form ahead of the vote.
Committee members thanked staff for the drafting work and noted the vote followed substantial prior discussion at earlier meetings and subcommittee review. The meeting transcript records the outcome and the recorded counts; the committee chair instructed staff to implement the revised policy and update administrative procedures as needed.
The committee did not specify implementation dates or cite changes to enforcement practices in the meeting; staff follow-up on implementation steps and parent communication was discussed as a next step.
