Get to school: Attendance rules back in force

According to the 2022-2023 Milton High School Student Handbook, students are permitted 10 days of absence during the school year. Any absences after the 10 days will be considered unlawful without a doctor’s excuse.

The school will not offer virtual instruction (other than cyber courses), according to Co-Principal Mr. Andrew Rantz. Students who test positive for COVID-19 will be excused for the required five days of quarantine time required by Pennsylvania Department of Health regulations, said Mr. Rantz.

Missing school due to illness, serious illness, emergency medical attention and emergency dental attention can be counted as excused, he added.

Students may have the option to be excused from school to take their permit or driver’s test.

“Those cases can also be analyzed on an individual basis,” said Mr. Rantz. “If the student is in good academic and attendance standing, then I’d say yes.”

Other excused absences include absences approved in advance by the building principal, the death of an immediate family member, religious holidays approved in advance, required court attendance, suspension from school or school approved activities. According to Mr. Rantz, these attendance rules have not changed from last year.

According to the state law, from this year’s high school student handbook, “Compulsory school age shall mean the period of a child’s life from the time the child’s parents elect to have the child enter school and which shall be no later than six (6) years of age until the child reaches eighteen (18) years of age. The term does not include a child who holds a certificate of graduation from a regularly accredited, licensed, registered or approved high school.”

“Students are no longer under the compulsory education law once they turn 18,” said Mr. Rantz. That means students over 18 aren’t required by law to attend school, he explained.