Tennessee school won't accept doctor's notes for absences [View all]

One Tennessee school district will no longer accept doctors’ notes to excuse an absence despite objections from parents.

Lawrence County School System officials said the school is instituting the policy to teach students work ethic and reliability, saying that students will be expected to go to work sick or injured as adults.

It is also intended to address chronic absenteeism, defined as missing 10% or more of instructional time. In the 2023-2024 school year, Lawrence County had a 14% rate of chronic absenteeism.

With no federally mandated sick leave, many Americans do go to work when sick, but public health officials advise against it. Staying home when sick can reduce the spread of viruses like the flu and COVID-19 and protect vulnerable people in the community.

The new attendance policy says students will simply be marked absent or present, with no options for doctors to verify a child is absent because they are sick or injured, need to stay home to recover or to prevent spreading contagious illnesses to their classmates.


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Not only that, but if they get sick at school, they get sent to the nurse's office and then home and marked "tardy". Three tardies - one absence. This is the wrong way to address chronic absenteeism.