Sioux City Community School Board addresses Iowa’s new absence law

SIOUX CITY (KTIV) – A new chronic absenteeism law in Iowa will change the way Sioux City schools manage absences.

This new law requires all Iowa schools new threshold How many days can students be absent?

The biggest change is that there is no longer a distinction between excused and unexcused absences. All absences will be counted.

The state currently has 6 exemptions under the policy:

Fulfilling the requirements for graduation or having received a high school equivalent diploma.
To be excused by any court or judge for sufficient cause.
Attending religious ceremonies or receiving religious education.
Not being able to attend school due to legitimate medical reasons.
Individualized Education Program (IEP) affecting attendance.
Section 504 plan affecting participation under the Federal Rehabilitation Act.

This new law led the school board to lift its excused absence policy on Monday night.

Principal Dr. Rod Earleywine said this decision will impact how the district manages absences.

“The problem is, it takes a lot of manpower. When you have 15,000 students, it takes a lot of manpower to do that communication, because you have to have a pariah code, you have to communicate more, you have to have more meetings. It takes more people to get that done, so we’re trying to get through that right now,” Earleywine said.

Earleywine also shared that there are situations that families cannot avoid and the district will support families in those situations.