At the beginning of the COVID-19 public health response and the displacement of students to full remote learning and hybrid combinations of on-site and remote learning, attendance reporting for teachers and schools was challenging and riddled with disparate and sometimes doubtful counts.
New Jersey’s guidance for recording daily attendance during the COVID-19 public health response has shifted from Spring 2020 to the 2020-2021 school year. Guidance provided in the spring is no longer relevant to attendance policy starting in September 2020. The current guidance is governed by Executive Order (E.O.) No. 175.
Following is a timeline and brief description of the factors influencing the state’s evolving guidance on COVID-19 attendance policy.
A March 13, 2020 NJDOE Memo, Supplemental Guidance Regarding Requirements for Public Health-Related School Closure, explained that districts could count days of remote instruction due to a declared state of emergency towards the 180-day requirement in accordance with N.J.S.A.18A:7F-9 provided that the provision of remote instruction followed the requirements for the provision of home instruction outlined in N.J.A.C.6A:16-10.1. This flexibility, to allow days of remote instruction due to a declared public health emergency to count towards the 180-day requirement, was enacted into state law as P.L. 2020 c. 27 on April 14, 2020.
The NJDOE’s request to waive statewide assessment, accountability and reporting requirements for school year 2019-2020 was approved by the United States Department of Education (USED) on March 27, 2020. The waiver means that the NJDOE will not rely on school-level rates of chronic absenteeism to identify schools in need of Comprehensive or Targeted Support for school year 2019-2020, nor will rates of chronic absenteeism be reported in the 2019-2020 School Performance Reports. However, the NJDOE is still required to report school year 2019-2020 chronic absenteeism rates to USED through EDFacts.
After Governor Murphy announced that all New Jersey school buildings would remain closed for in-person instruction for the remainder of school year 2019-2020 on May 4, 2020, the NJDOE issued a memo, Required Updates to District Public Health-Related School Closure Plans, that required districts to clarify their attendance policies, including how districts determine whether a student is present or absent, and how a student’s attendance will factor into promotion, retention, graduation, discipline, and any other decisions that impact students.
New Jersey’s guidance for remote instruction in school year 2020-2021, including what constitutes a school day in session, was issued on August 13, 2020 through E.O. No. 175. As stated in Executive Order No. 175, a school day, whether in-person or remote, must consist of at least four (4) hours of active instruction, exclusive of recess periods or lunch periods, and which may include synchronous and/or asynchronous instruction to students by an appropriately certified teacher. One continuous session of two and one-half hours may be considered a full day in kindergarten, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:32-8.3, but a full school day of kindergarten must be at least four hours long in districts formerly designated as Abbott school districts. Districts must ensure the requirements set forth in N.J.S.A.18A:7F-9 for a 180-day school year are met. Finally, per N.J.S.A.18A:35-4.31 districts must provide a daily recess period of at least 20 minutes for students in grades kindergarten through 5.
Consistent with E.O. No. 175, when determining attendance policies for remote instruction, districts must consider both the number of instructional hours in a school day as well as student participation in instruction. Districts may employ multiple ways to determine whether a student in a remote learning environment is present or absent, including attending check-ins through internet or telephone, logging in to online learning platforms, or monitoring student submission of assignments. E.O. No. 175 requires district policies for attendance to accommodate opportunities for asynchronous instruction, which may necessitate that districts delay recording daily attendance for students in remote learning environments. Per N.J.A.C.6A:32-8.3(i), a student must be recorded as present, absent or excused every day the school is in session and the student is enrolled.
District policies and procedures regarding attendance, whether for students on school premises or in remote learning environments, must comply with N.J.A.C. 6A:16-7.6. Further, districts are also obligated to provide for the early detection of missing and abused children per N.J.S.A.18A:36-25.
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