Absentee Rate of 20% or Greater
From the Indiana Department of Education
Per 512 IAC 1-2-1, public and accredited nonpublic schools are required to develop a local attendance system for reporting symptoms and health outbreaks. The school nurse is required to report any known or suspected reason for the excessive rate of absenteeism directly to the superintendent or designated administrator.
Per 512 IAC 1-2-2, public and accredited nonpublic schools are required to report to the local health department and the state attendance officer the percentage of student absences when the percentage of students absent from a school is equal to or greater than 20% of the enrolled students. Reports are not required on days immediately before or after a school vacation day or a scheduled instructional day that is canceled due to any weather-related emergency. Schools are to complete this report on any individual school that reaches the 20% absenteeism threshold and is not dependent on the entire school corporation reaching this threshold.
o A listing of Local Health Departments (LHD) can be found here
o The form to report 20% absenteeism to IDOE can be found here
Covid Considerations:
If students are quarantined, are not ill, and are able to attend school virtually or by distance learning, they would be counted as Virtual Due to Covid, which means they are present. These students are not included in calculating a school’s absentee rate. Only those students who are ill and are physically unable to attend school either in person or virtually would be counted as absent.
Additional Guidelines:
- The 20% rate is calculated and reported per individual school, not per school corporation.
- The 20% absenteeism rule is for reporting purposes only.
- There is not a certain percentage that dictates a school’s response. Once a school reaches the 20% absenteeism rate and has reported this information to both the LHD and IDOE, the school and LHD should collaborate on next steps depending upon the type of illness causing the absenteeism.