Truancy Reporting Guidance

When a student meets the criteria for truancy, school administrative units must maintain the student’s enrollment and enter the progress into Synergy State Edition while the school follows the necessary protocol for truancy. Each incremental step in the process should be documented and dated and the truancy record must remain open until it reaches a conclusion. There can only be one record open at a time per student.

  • Please note that any absences related to homelessness should be considered excused. 

There are six different truancy thresholds:

  1. A student who has completed 6th grade but is not yet 17 and has 10 or more cumulative unexcused absences.  
  2. A student who has completed 6th grade but is not yet 17 and has 7 or more consecutive unexcused absences.   
  3. A student aged 6 or above who hasn’t completed 6th grade and has 7 or more cumulative unexcused absences.   
  4. A student aged 6 or above who hasn’t completed 6th grade and has 5 or more consecutive unexcused absences   
  5. A student at least 5 years of age and not yet 6 years of age and has NOT completed grade 6, has been enrolled in public school and has not been withdrawn, and has 7 cumulative unexcused absences.  
  6. A student at least 5 years of age and not yet 6 years of age and has NOT completed grade 6, has been enrolled in public school and has not been withdrawn, and has 5 consecutive unexcused absences.

Once a student has been identified as truant by meeting one of the six thresholds, a truancy record must be entered into Synergy State Edition. The Start Date of the truancy record is NOT the date of data entry but rather the date the student has been deemed truant under the guidelines described above.

The truancy resolution levels are followed sequentially and the specific truancy resolution steps that must be followed are:

⦁    Please note: While there is no longer a dependency between Intervention plan (1) and Notification of Superintendent (2) and there is no longer a dependency between Parent Notification (3) and School Board notification (4), Intervention plan and Notification of Superintendent MUST be done before Parent Notification. School Board notification is the final step and cannot be done until all other steps are complete.
Additional Intervention – this step can be added as needed and is not required. The step can occur at any point in the truancy process and does not have to be sequential to other truancy steps.

 

Under Compulsory Age Students (3-5)
Students that are not yet 6 years old, are not required by law to be receiving educational instruction. However, if the student has been enrolled in a Public School the child is expected to attend. If the student is not attending and meets the criteria for a Truancy, the Attending School should begin a Truancy to investigate and determine the cause of the absences. If a legal guardian then decides that they will not continue schooling this year, the student may be exited : "03504 Withdrawn from school, under the age for compulsory attendance; eligible to return"
Compulsory Age Students (6-16)
  • Student on a Superintendent agreement (out of District Placement) becomes truant during the school
    year
    • Attending School required to follow the truancy process to end of that school year and to notify
      resident District of the truancy. For subsequent year(s) the resident District is responsible for
      verifying enrollment and following the truancy process if the student does not resume
      attendance.
      •  
  • High School student in a district with no high school becomes truant during the school year
    • Attending High School required to follow the truancy process to the end of that school year and to notify resident District of the truancy. For subsequent year(s) the resident District is responsible for verifying enrollment and following the truancy process if the student does not resume attendance.
      •  
  • Student is attending a 60% publicly Funded school becomes truant during the school year
    • Attending 60% publicly Funded School required to follow the truancy process to end of that school year and to notify the resident District of the truancy. For subsequent year(s) the resident District is required for verifying enrollment and following the truancy process if the student does not resume attendance.
      •  
  • Student is known to have moved to different District, by word of mouth.
    • Attending School required to follow the truancy process to end of that school year and to notify resident District of the truancy. For subsequent year(s) the resident District is required to follow the truancy process until a request for records is received.
      •  
  • Home schooled student.
    • Resident district is responsible for verifying that the family has submitted an Initial Letter of
      Intent for the first year of home instruction and a Subsequent Year Letter with the required annual evaluation in subsequent years. Resident district is required to follow the truancy process
      if this documentation is not received.
      •  
Over Compulsory Age Students (17+)
  • Student reaches age 17 during the school year while being truant.
    • Attending School required to follow the truancy process until the student turns 17 and keep the student enrolled until the end of the school year. For subsequent year(s) the District is not required to follow the truancy process and is not required to enroll the student (unless the student choses to return to school).
  • Student on a Superintendent Agreement reaches age 17 during the school year while being truant.
    • Attending School required to follow the truancy process until the student turns 17 and keep the
      student enrolled until the end of the school year. Attending School is also required to notify
      resident District of the truancy. For Subsequent year(s) the Resident District is not required to
      follow the Truancy process and is not required to enroll the student (unless the student choses to
      return to school).

Note: If an SAU includes parent notification as part of its local intervention process, that should be documented as part of the intervention plan or as an additional intervention. The Official Parent Notification step in Synergy refers to the statutory requirement that occurs when it has been determined that the intervention plan is not correcting the truancy.

Synergy: Truancy records are entered into Synergy State Edition. Please note only one Truancy is entered per student per year. Truancy records are left open for the year once entered and close automatically when a student is exited.

NEO: Truancy data is sent from Synergy to NEO where the truancy reports are located. NEO Data System

If you cannot log in to Synergy or NEO or you do not see the Student Truancy Summary screen and the Student Data tab as indicated in the instructions, contact the MEDMS Helpdesk at 624-6896 for assistance.

Truancy Data Entry

Truancy Certification

For each quarter in which truancy reporting is due, AND by June 30th, Superintendents are asked to:

  • Validate the accuracy of the truancy data
  • Make modifications in the State SIS if needed
  • Certify the truancy data in NEO
  • End-of-Year Truancy certification must occur after the last day of all schools in the district AND before June 30th of the school year.
  • Attendance reporting is completed each quarter with a certification of the data in NEO by the Superintendent:   
    • (Q1) Quarter 1: First Day of School through 9/30  
    • (Q2) Quarter 2: 10/1 through 12/31 
    • (Q3) Quarter 3: 1/1 through 3/31
    • (Q4) Quarter 4: 4/1 through Last Day of School  

Contacts

  • For technical questions regarding entering truancy into Synergy, please contact the MEDMS helpdesk at MEDMS.helpdesk@maine.gov or 207-624-6896
  • For policy questions regarding truancy, please contact Bear Shea at W.Bear.Shea@Maine.Gov or 207-441-7404