Every school my children have ever attended, both public and private, have the same protocol. Teachers turn in take attendance at every period and note which kids are not there. Homeroom attendance is the most important. If a child isn't there, we get a call, usually by 8:30 am. I worked at a private school and had to make these calls. I have always been in a smallish school system, so this was reasonalbe. Not sure how it would be accomplished in a large school with potentially a few hundred absentees. Perhaps in a large school, this could be done by email, automatically.
Jo

Good gosh, post much? I meant that teachers take attendance and then turn it in to the main office.

Need coffee.

Jo I initially read that sentence as you intended it LOL. Only after you posted a correction did I catch your error.

I know some schools use robo-calls to home phones if a child is absent, even if due to illness, if the parent forgot to call him/her in sick. Um ask me how I know...

What Jessy said....if we haven't let the teacher know that a kid is going to be absent, we get a robocall and email alert by 9am. This is for preK - grade 8.

Same here with the Robo-Call

Wow, I feel lucky. Our call comes from the school nurse.

FOAS ~ please tell us your son is okay, and he did not -NOT make it to school as you thought!

The world today - a much scarier place - what is reasonable is to expect a call from the school as soon as attendance is taken and an unexplained absence is realized by the school - especially a six year old.

We get a robo-call about 10-11 am even if I call the school to say DS is sick that day. Then we get a second robo-call at night reminding us that DS must bring a note when he returns. Folks at the school are very caring, just too many kids, I think.

Oh my son was with me and fine the whole time, it's just that I was surprised they didn't contact me. I had an email exchange with the principal which left me understanding that the administration followed protocol by "trying" to call the home once. I put trying in quotes because I was home the entire day and my caller ID didn't register a call from the school, nor any other calls in the timeframe I was told they tried. So most likely they dialed the wrong number.

In this day and age, that seems to me like an unimpressive response. Home phone, work phone, cell phone, work email, personal email, text messaging... I doubt there are too many parents of school-aged kids who can't be reached immediately by at least a couple of these methods.

From conversations I'm having though, it sounds like a simple, single phone call is the common response. I'm far from being an overprotective parent, but I say this policy is a disaster waiting to happen. And one that could be avoided so easily.

Thanks for your input.

I would follow up immediately and check what number they have recorded as the 'first call'. Make sure that it is the one that you want.

When I had to make the calls, we always used the home # first (figured a kid was sick, at home). If no one answered, I would leave a message explaining the reason for the call and requesting a return call. Next step was to try the cell phone numbers. 99% of the time, the parents had simply forgotten to call in the absence.

Also, did your son know he would be absent, ie, a planned miss vs. a sick day? Sometimes kids would tell the teacher ahead of time and the teacher would mark it as an explained absence vs. an unexplained one. Especially for things like scheduled appts, early vacations, and religious observances. Explained absences did not get calls.

So happy your son was safe & with you - I agree, the school failed the test! I would definitely discuss this with the principal in a very nice, but concerned manner. It is a disaster waiting to happen. I would ask them what the phone number they have on file is, as suggested.

When my older "bad" son was in high school, no one called if a kid didn't show up. I had to write a note explaining the absence the next day. This was almost 25 years ago. One semester, my son had 15 absences! No one called me about all the time he missed and I didn't know until I got his report card. I guess he got good at signing my signature. LOL -- funny now, not then. He caught holy hell for it.

By the way, he grew up to be a great guy, has a successful business and a nice home. Ya just never know!

I can tell you from my subbing experience. After the teacher attendance is passed on to a secretary, all call's from parents are marked then the absent list without parent call are handed to the nurse and she spends a good deal of time trying to track down parents to verify an absence. Parents are always reminded they must call in but several often do not. I know some will say big deal, the nurse has to make these calls but all of this could take a couple of hours. A child could really be missing so please remember to call in your child's absence.

If I don't call my kids in to the attendance line if they have an appt and they are not at school I get a call from the school secretary letting me know

I've gotten calls from a school saying that my child was absent, and I don't have any children. I guess the child gave my number to the school, but I don't know how they resolved the issue. Evidently, it was a bad child because the school left a lot of messages for me.

When I was in elementary (at a rural school), the teacher would call the house when I was absent. Once I was very sick, and my mother had left me home alone (at age 10) to get some groceries, and the teacher called at about 10:30 a.m. I managed to drag myself out of bed to answer the phone, and the teacher told me that if I was well enough to answer the phone that I was well enough to go to school. That really did not make me feel any better, but my mother wrote a note describing my condition for the teacher. I got left home a lot when I was sick as a child. My mother thought nothing could happen to me because we were out in the country. I really didn't like being left alone like that when I was sick.

Lars

Thanks again, everyone. I think "the call" is standard, my question is really what happens (or should happen) if the call isn't answered. Should there be follow-up more immediate than a message left reminding the parent to send in a note the next day? I guess it's standard though.

Lars - you just made me sad! It's one thing to be left alone when playing sick, quite another when actually sick.

When I "know" my kids are sick, they typically go to my parents. When I question whether it's an act, I tell them my parents aren't available, tell them they'll have to stay in bed all day with no TV, and see how they react. Typically they suddenly feel better. Of course in my case we're fortunate to have multiple suitable options. Not everyone has that.

foodonastump, yes followup is done. Every number listed for emergencies is called on the chance one of them will know how to reach parent. First is home number, cell no, mom & dad work. Then the emergency numbers.

Make SURE (to me that means a personal visit) that your cell phone is the first number called.

Change the ring tone for your cell phone to be a distinctive one for the school(s)number.

ANSWER that call. Always. If you are 'out of service' temporarily, check your messages, missed calls when you are away from your kids.

At the start of each school year, we are asked to provide a list of contacts to call if your child is inexplicably absent. They call it the Safe Arrival Program. If your child does not show up and you have not already called the Safe Arrival line to explain the absence, they start calling the numbers on the list until they get a hold of someone.

I don't know what the escalation procedure is if they don't get a hold of anyone.

In our school district..each school has the option of using the robocall. You will usually get a call for elementary age kids around 11 am...if your child was marked absent and you either didn't call ahead or the secretary didn't a chance to get them entered. If I child is absent on a day and they aren't often absent..they will NOT be tracked down. If however a child is absent and it's a "typical" thing some schools secretaries will make a personal call. It's a history type thing to turn into the child court for truancy issues. Yep even in elementary.

Now if the child is in middle school or high school and you don't call in, you can expect a robo call in the evening letting you know what periods your child was marked absent. Now if a sub is in..likely you'll get your child was absent periods 1,2, 4 and 6.. because sub sheet absences are entered by the attendance secretary at the end of the day or the next morning.

Like I said the only time a personal safety call(live person) is made is if your child has quite a history of absences.

And only the "main" number is called. Emergency numbers are only used if their is an emergency on the child's behalf and the home and parents cell numbers are not reaching the parent.

I don't think I've ever worked in a school where the principal has time to make "safety" calls.

Like I said the only time a personal safety call(live person) is made is if your child has quite a history of absences.

It is just the opposite in my district. The attendance secretary in my HS (student population of 2340) knows who the frequent absentees are and calls them last. It is the parents of those kids who are seldom absent, or whose parents always call and didn't this time, who are called first. It is district policy for all our schools so I assume it is done in K-8, but I know our HS attendance sec'y does it faithfully by 9:30 or 10 AM every day. All parents of absentees are contacted by the secretary or her representative by the end of every school day.

I think it should not be the personal responsibility of a school secretary to keep our kids "safe" from kidnappers! In a big school attendance is a full time job, and things have to be prioritized. Actual kidnappings by strangers are rare.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.ygoy.com/index.php/child-abduction-statistics/