A new attendance policy in the Albert Lea school district will allow almost one fourth fewer unexcused absences than the old, something the district says should help to decrease unwarranted absences.

The new policy, which was adopted Monday night by the school board, will give each student 5 unexcused absences per school year, whereas the old would give 16 per year.

Superintendent Dave Prescott said the district adopted the new policy in order to achieve two goals.

“First, we wanted to have more consistency in policy between the elementary, middle and high schools,” he explained. The new policy, though each level has adopted their own version, is nearly uniform district wide. The old one differed at each level.

“The second reason is that students used to have four absences per term (or quarter) without any consequences,” he said. “Kids were taking absences when there was no need for them, just because they wouldn’t have consequences.”

Students can be excused under the new policy for illness, funerals or medical appointments, but each must be verified by a parent or guardian. They can also have pre-approved family vacations, but these must be excused one week before the vacation begins.

“It’s a significant change,” Prescott said. “But we really want to encourage parents to have their children in school each day. We also want to encourage the foundations of a good work ethic. Studies show that those who are absent from school are likely, in the future, to be those absent from work.”

“Districts all over the country continually resolve, change and rewrite their attendance policies,” Prescott said. “It’s not really anything out of the ordinary.”

Other school board action:

The all day, every day kindergarten program has been popular so far, with 241 students already signed up for the 2003-2004 year, according to Prescott. Many parents have already enrolled their children in the district program, but historically, parents usually wait until July or August to sign their children up.

Prescott said that the program may have drawn parents to come out earlier to enroll their children. He also said the district has picked up students from surrounding districts and who might otherwise have gone to local private schools.

The district added an eleventh section of the kindergarten and is considering adding a twelfth. But the cost for each section is more than a usual class because the state only pays for half day kindergarten. Therefore the additions may prove expensive for the district. Prescott said the district has the reserve funding to carry that burden.