DODDS schools to audit attendance records

[unhappycamper]

DODDS schools to audit attendance records
By Scott Schonauer, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Tuesday, January 22, 2008

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — DODDS-Europe principals have been ordered to shore up their record keeping after it was found the school system does not have an accurate account of unexcused absences.

School clerks will go through thousands of attendance records in hopes of correcting what is believed to be hundreds of data entry errors, said Maggie Menzies, spokeswoman for Department of Defense Dependents Schools-Europe.

In an internal memo sent to school administrators Friday, director Diana Ohman wrote that it is “vital” to input the correct absentee data into the school’s Web-based system. Unexcused absences that are later excused must be recorded daily in a “timely manner,” she added.

The message comes four days after DODDS-Europe released 2½ years of attendance statistics that school officials now say are wrong and probably do not give an accurate picture of truancy.

Administration officials said that until the audit is complete, they have no accurate figures on the number of excused and unexcused absences for schools across the region. Nor do administrators have an accurate figure for the number of children who are habitually truant — those who consistently skip school and face suspension.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51814



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