Attendance Matters: Attend & Achieve

When students miss school, not only do we miss them - they miss out. Consistent attendance is critical for your child’s learning, growth, and long-term success.

There is a new Georgia law that focuses on preventing chronic absenteeism in schools. Under Senate Bill 123, a student is considered chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of the school year.

Barrow County School System will begin assessing chronic absenteeism after the 45th day of school. For the 2025-26 school year, that date is Oct. 13, 2025.

To help break down what 10% of the school year looks like:

• Students would be considered chronically absent if they missed three or more days of school by the 31st day of school.
• There are nearly 180 days in a school year (178 exactly). 10% of that would be 18 days. Missing two or more days a month can add up to that quickly.

Consider this:

Please help to make sure your child is present at school each day unless they are sick or have an excused absence.

The BCSS steps involved under the new Chronically Absent law may include an attendance meeting with families, a letter of understanding for the guardian to sign, and a possible referral to the Community-based Risk Reduction program.

This new law is in addition to the existing Compulsory Attendance Law for children ages 6 to 16. That law limits unexcused absences to 10 in a school year. After 5 unexcused absences, letters are sent to families to inform them about the possible consequences of missing 10.

Students are automatically withdrawn from school after missing 10 consecutive days.

More information:

Attendance & Truancy Definitions State Board Rule 160-5-1-.10 defines Truancy as: e) Truant – any child subject to compulsory attendance who, during the school calendar year, has more than five days of unexcused absences.

SB123 changed O.C.G.A. 20-2-690.3 to add new definition: (2) 'Chronically absent' means the attendance status of a student whose total number of absences, whether excused or unexcused, at any time during a school year is equal to or greater than 10 percent of the total number of school days that such student has been enrolled at the same school or within the same local school system during the current school year excepting such student's first day of enrollment.