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State change to attendance coding will count tardies and early check‑outs as absence minutes, district says
Summary
The district told the curriculum committee that an update to student‑accounting configuration by the state will make late arrivals and early checkouts aggregate as absent instructional minutes; staff warned this will change parent‑portal summaries, automated attendance calls and local reports and said the district will prepare communications and auditing steps.
Brunswick County Schools staff briefed the curriculum committee on a statewide/student‑information system configuration change that will treat late arrivals and early checkouts as absent instructional minutes and thus aggregate toward a student’s daily absence total.
"Students must be present more than 50% of a school's instructional day," the presenter told the committee, explaining that because non‑instructional minutes (lunch, passing time) are subtracted, partial‑day attendance calculations can mean a student who arrived late or left early may not be counted as present for the whole day even if physically on campus for several hours. Staff provided elementary (daily home‑room coding) and high‑school (period‑by‑period coding) examples and said the new configuration will show more absence codes in parent portals even when an absence reason is lawful.
Officials warned of operational impacts: automated attendance calls will trigger more often for non‑lawful early checkouts/tardies, local attendance aggregations and reports (perfect‑attendance lists, athletic eligibility, exam exemptions) will need revision, and district data managers must adopt consistent coding to ensure accurate minute‑level reporting. Staff said the change is required by state configuration and the district will roll out parent communications, train data staff and audit entries before the first fall compliance report.
The committee asked about timing and appeals; staff said they will prepare clearer parent reports (an optional report card template that shows whole‑day absence totals) and urged families to present lawful documentation (doctor notes) promptly to avoid automated unlawful‑absence calls.
No board action was requested during the committee briefing; staff described next steps for communication, training and auditing.
