Truancy & Attendance Struggles

North Carolina has a compulsory school attendance law (NCGS § 115C-378) that requires parents/guardians to send students between ages 7-16 to school daily during the academic year. By law, parent/guardians could face criminal charges for truancy if their student has excessive unexcused absences. Under what circumstances, if any, can a parent potentially face charges? Each school district also has a local Board Policy that outlines attendance expectations.  This includes information such as:

• What absences may be excused
• What steps are required for schools to excuse an absence
• The possible impacts of absences on a student’s record and grade promotion
• How students and parents can access make-up work.

You can find your local district’s board policies here.

The law requires schools to take the following steps to make parents/guardians aware of the compulsory attendance requirements and work with the family to attempt to resolve the reasons for the unexcused absences:

1. If a student has three unexcused absences in a school year, school officials must notify the parent.  
2. If the student has up to six unexcused absences in school year, school officials must notify the parent/guardian by mail that the student may be in violation of the compulsory attendance law and may face prosecution if the absences cannot be justified under the attendance policies of North Carolina and the local school board.
3. After the school has notified you in writing of the unexcused absences, the school attendance counselor for the school or district must work with your student and family to understand why the student is absent and determine how to remove the barriers preventing the student from attending school. Solutions could involve adjusting the school program or getting supplemental services. NC law allows schools to use law enforcement officials to accompany the attendance counselor to make a home visit if the counselor believes that is necessary. Often the attendance counselor is the school’s social worker.  
4. After 10 total unexcused absences, school officials must look at any report or investigation completed by the attendance counselor and must have a discussion with the student and parent/guardian to make sure the parent/guardian has gotten the notices about the compulsory attendance violation and to assess whether the parent/guardian is making good faith efforts to have the student attend school. If the school official determines the parent is not making a good faith effort, the principal is required to notify both the local district attorney (who handles criminal prosecution) and the director of the local Department of Social Services, which oversees child welfare matters (also known as Child Protective Services).  

Students can be absent from school for many reasons. When there are underlying reasons that a child does not want to go to school, it’s important to think about the behavior as school avoidance and work with the school on addressing the reasons your student does not want to go to school.

1. Ask that the school attendance counselor have a meeting with you to understand the root cause of school avoidance and create a strategy to address your student’s needs.
   • If the attendance struggles are because you are experiencing housing instability and do not have a consistent place to live, connect with the McKinney-Vento liaison, or homeless education staff, for enrollment, transportation, and/or other resources to support the child. For more information on how to find the McKinney-Vento liaison for your school or district, click here.
   • If your student does not have access to district transportation and/or faces financial hardship that poses a barrier to attendance, share that with the attendance counselor and ask whether your student qualifies for any alternative transportation support. If parents/guardians qualify, some districts may provide gas cards, create a formal agreement for transportation reimbursement, or offer other support.
2. If the attendance struggles are related to underlying disabilities, consider requesting a meeting with school staff to put in place accommodations and other supports that will help your student access school.
   • For students with IEPs: Request an IEP team meeting and an FBA/BIP to explore how the IEP can be more supportive of student attendance. Find out more about requesting a meeting here.
   • For students with 504s: Request a 504 team meeting to review how the 504 can be more supportive of student attendance. Find more about requesting a meeting here.
   • For students with disabilities, or other needs, who don’t have but may need an IEP or 504: Consider submitting a written evaluation request to determine whether your student may be eligible for special education supports, which could support attendance. Find more support on this process here.
   • If the attendance struggles are related to unaddressed bullying, put your bullying concerns in writing to the principal, ideally in an email. Consider filing a complaint if the school fails to properly address bullying. Review your district’s board policies to understand how to report bullying and what steps the school should take in response to a bullying complaint.
     • For students with IEPs: Request an IEP or 504 team meeting to implement extra supports to address bullying harms that could be affecting attendance. Find more support on this process here.
     • For all students: If the bullying is discriminatory (based on color, race, religion, sex, or national origin), students have additional protections under state and federal law. Schools must investigate according to district board policies and applicable laws. For more information on next steps when bullying is (1) discriminatory, read more here, (2) if the discriminatory bullying is sex or gender-based, read more here.