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1. Why is the District considering the proposed exemption?
Fundamentally, this activation shifts control of the 90% attendance policy from the state to the district by exempting the corresponding legal policy FEC (LEGAL) and rewriting FEC (LOCAL) to better serve our students. Under current law and policy, students who fall below 90% attendance and pass their class(es) are denied credit until meeting the alternative learning activity (ALA) hour requirements established by the campus attendance committee. TEC 25.092 and the related FEC (LEGAL):
- Define learning by seat time rather than learning
- Treat all student situations the same, regardless of the unique circumstances of each
- Create an academic penalty (withholding of credit) for non-academic behavior (attendance) and assign non-academic consequences (ALA hours) to resolve, typically at the end of the semester; and
- Create burdensome implementation procedures for campus staff
If TEC.25.092 and FEC (LEGAL) are exempted, the proposed revised FEC (LOCAL) policy continues with the expectation of 90% attendance, maintains the authority of administrators to deny credit to students with excessive absences, and provides greater flexibility in defining course progress and completion.
Under the proposed revised local policy, any time a student falls below 90% attendance, campus administrators are charged with evaluating the nature of the absences, the academic progress of the student, and assigning Academic Support Plans as appropriate. Academic Support Plans are intended to ensure appropriate academic progress, not making up hours.
Benefits of this new approach are:
- Keeps focus on learning over seat time
- Reduces need for committees and allows for timely interventions led by campus administration in coordination with the student’s teachers
- Ensure a whole child approach to intervening in cases of excessive absences
2. Will this exemption decrease student attendance?
No, the district will continue to have a strong commitment to regular school attendance. This change does not impact compulsory attendance rules. What changes is the nature of our academic supports for students who have attendance issues. This exemption will allow SBISD to build new policies and regulations that ensure more timely interventions with students who miss school. It also allows for greater flexibility in working with students who have excused absences and self-manage their academic responsibilities.
3. Will this exemption support the District’s strategic plan of personalized learning?
Yes, the current 90% rule defines learning by seat time. Shifting this rule to local control removes a statutory barrier as we think about students demonstrating mastery in different ways and at different paces.
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