Um…

I worked in a special education classroom today. That means the teacher is in the room most or all of the day and the kids on her caseload are there most or all of the day. Sometimes they go out to mainstream classes, but they may stay all day. I had a student scheduled to be with me first, fourth, fifth, and sixth hours, but he was not going to be at school today. The teacher had noted that he would be gone for planned appointments, and it had been called in to the office already. I completely forgot to take attendance for first hour.

Second hour was my prep, as all of my students headed out to other classes. I went down to the attendance office and chatted with the nice woman there. I told her I had forgotten, and she said it was no problem, she would take care of it. I suggested to her that I did not need to do attendance fourth, fifth, and sixth hours, since I would have the same five students and that the one absent student would continue to be absent. She said no, I needed to take attendance. She turned her computer screen toward me and showed me that kids that had been called in by their parents with an absence were written in pink on her screen. When teachers marked them absent via their computers each hour, that writing would turn to green. When I sent the attendance slip down, she would click on the pink to turn it green. I said I understood the process and thought perhaps she could just click my student now, because we all understood that he was going to be gone for the whole day. She said I needed to take attendance each hour.

I said, yes, I would definitely mentally take attendance by looking at my five students and making sure they were there. I said, if someone disappeared, I would immediately call the office. She said, no, I needed to send the attendance slip down each hour. I mentioned that my students were not really able to independently walk down to the office and I would need to send a paraprofessional with them. She thought about it and said I could email. I reminded her that I do not have access to email as a sub. She agreed, then reiterated that I needed to do attendance every hour. I reiterated that I would have the same five kids all the rest of the day. She looked at me. I looked at her. No one said anything for a solid minute. I asked, “Can I call you?” She smiled brightly, “Yes! Call me.”

At the beginning of fourth hour, I called and said “Hi. This is Barbara Thompson. I’m subbing down in Josie Schmo’s room. I am calling to say that John Smith is absent today.”

Her response? “Yes, I know.”

I waited. I was SURE she would say I didn’t have to call again. She didn’t.

The students and the paraprofessionals all helped remind me when to call again – twice – and it was lots of fun. Call! Call! Tell her John is still absent!

Anytime I read that school attendance is important, I will remember today.