Important Changes to Attendance Requirement

As we begin this school year, it’s a good time to note that regular, on-time attendance is an important part of academic success and social and emotional well-being for your child or children. Being at school each day helps students stay connected to their learning, their teachers, and their classmates. 

All Absence Hours Count

The State of Ohio has made some important changes to attendance requirements for the 2026-2027 school year. Ohio no longer designates absences as excused or unexcused when calculating chronic absenteeism. All hours a student misses school count toward the student’s chronic absenteeism rate, regardless of the reason for the absence. Students are considered chronically absent when they have missed more than 10% of the hours offered in a school year. Ohio schools are required to begin calculating these percentages once 100 hours of instructional time has been offered.

Ohio calculates attendance based on hours, not days. This means that arriving late to school or leaving school early also contributes to the total amount of instructional time a student misses. Even small amounts of missed instructional time can add up over the course of the school year.

Families should continue to report absences through the school’s attendance line and provide documentation when appropriate. While documentation does not remove the missed hours from the chronic absenteeism calculation, it helps us maintain accurate attendance records.

Attendance Notifications Beginning September 1

Schools are required to account for the whereabouts of all students within the first 90 minutes of the school day. To help us meet this requirement and, most importantly, ensure that students are safely accounted for, it is important that families notify the school when a student will be absent. Wyoming City Schools will continue to use daily attendance notifications to help families stay informed:

• Absence Calls: Families will receive an automated phone call when a student is marked absent and the absence has not been reported to the school. If your child will be absent, please contact your school’s attendance line as soon as possible so we know your child is safely accounted for. 
• Tardy Texts: Families of Wyoming High School and Wyoming Middle School students will receive a text message near the end of the school day when their child has been marked tardy to school.

These notifications are designed to keep families informed and provide an opportunity to contact the school if attendance information needs to be updated. We will begin these notifications on September 1 to allow students, families, and staff time to settle into new school-year routines and ensure that attendance procedures are running smoothly before automated notifications begin. 

Thank you for your partnership in helping our students be present and make every instructional hour count.