Attendance Policy Changes 2025-26

Student attendance continues to be a concern and a priority at District 230.  Our Strategic Framework goal is for 90% of students to attend school no less than 90% of the school year. At the end of 2023-24, only 80.2% of students in D230 hit that mark, which means nearly 20% of our students fit the state’s definition of being chronically absent. Some of last year’s efforts to address this included the launch of our Attendance Matters campaign, the addition of quarterly Attendance Progress Reports, and increased building-level initiatives to get students to school on time and every day.

Last year, we also conducted a thorough review of our attendance-related policies in the Parent/Student Handbook. The review included an in-depth look at the Illinois School Code’s requirements, an analysis of eight other suburban high school districts’ attendance policies, and the solicitation of feedback from various D230 groups and committees. Two factors that stood out as contributing to an elevated chronic absenteeism rate were the lack of clear expectations for good attendance and reasonable guardrails for excessive absences when there is no valid cause. These spoke directly to the need for change in our policy.

In our previous attendance policy, all absences were considered excused as long as they were called in by a parent or guardian. Also, students were able to make up missed work for full credit within a specified time frame regardless of the reason for the absence. After researching other districts’ attendance policies, we found that this policy was highly irregular and allowed for an overly expansive interpretation of the Illinois School Code’s definition of “valid causes” for absences. It de-emphasized the importance of attendance at a time when it needed to be re-emphasized. 

In short, the main changes to our attendance policy that take effect this school year are the reintroduction of unexcused absences, a limit to excused absences when no School Code exemptions are met, and adjustments to the make-up work policy. These changes reinforce the importance of being in school and also better align our policy to both the Illinois School Code and the attendance policies of similar high school districts. Click here for a summary of the substantive changes that are now in effect for 2025-26.