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smkmn13 t1_j6nagc7 wrote

The 10% threshold for "chronic absenteeism" is actually pretty low. That's not to say we shouldn't be working on kids getting to school when they can, but we're also doing a better job now than pre-COVID on keeping kids home when they're not feeling well, combined with multiple illnesses hitting hard after a couple years of relative isolation.

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phabphour20 t1_j6nv0hs wrote

Yeah. That’s one day every two weeks or 2-3 days in a month. My kids probably do that from colds and flu and Covid.

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lazy-but-talented t1_j6o9ga6 wrote

I was going to say a day every 2-3 weeks is a lot, but I think I just had super strict parents because i got sent to school sick all the time. staying home sick was the same as playing hooky

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phabphour20 t1_j6ohylv wrote

For me and my family (and my co-workers), the calculus has changed since Covid. We used to send kids to school with coughs or runny noses all the time. Now the bar is a bit higher (or lower) and we keep them home more to be safe. I hope other parents in our community are doing the same. It is much easier now for a lot of people to work from home and thus not need emergency childcare for a sick day.

The days of being a martyr and coming into the office when sick are certainly over. At least in the white collar office environment where I work. I just log in from home and do Zoom meetings when necessary.

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lazy-but-talented t1_j6ov2yd wrote

I’ve worked from home for nearly 3 years and I definitely feel insulated to a lot of the problems surrounding a sick day, I can save sick time and stretch out a work day or just call out easily.

COVID has created far greater disparities in money needed vs money being earned, some people are definitely working more hours or more jobs to pay for their necessities and can’t afford to take a sick day and still go into work sick.

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Nyrfan2017 t1_j6ph6z9 wrote

I was going to say the same thing … also I recall schools having like ten missed days and you could be kept back. That was a very long time ago but still

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Levlove t1_j6ny4e8 wrote

Not to mention, if they are counting last year a lot of schools had very strict policies regarding Covid isolation. If a kid wasn’t able to isolate, their 10 days of monitoring ended 10 days after the Covid positive person’s 10 days. I tested positive 12 days after the rest of my family and restarted my daughter’s clock - had she not tested positive herself she would have been out for a minimum of 32 days. She ended up being home for 24 days instead. Luckily, most of our house was positive all at once, and not like dominoes. She did attend remote learning, but not all the teachers did it every day and if there was a sub, she was marked absent for that class.

We got the obligatory “your kid has been chronically absent” letter with a sticky note telling us it was just a state requirement to send it, and they were well aware of why she had been home and not to worry about it.

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NLCmanure t1_j6o6ohw wrote

yeah, that's like 36 minutes per day if based on a 6 hour in-class day. Sort of like a lunch break or being late everyday.

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