NEPANS - Excused Absences & Home Bound Instruction

Excused Absences & Home Bound Instructions Laws

"Approximately half the parents reported their children were homeschooled or received home and hospital services due to physical illness, immunocompromised status, or unremitting anxiety."
Rice Doran, P. & O'Hanlon, E. Families’ experiences with PANDAS and related disorders. Poster session, Council for Exceptional Children Annual Convention. San Diego: April, 2015.

Information on Excused Absences & Home Bound Instruction is available below and as a pdf file.

NEPANS Excused Absences
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NEPANS Home Bound Instruction
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Excused Absences

Students with PANS are medically fragile. As such, students with PANS may be absent from school more than 9 times a year. Therefore, when absences are medically necessary, they can obtain excused medical absences from their doctor and should not be counted as truant. Some students will be absent sporadically while others will need to be absent from school for longer period of times. The School Nurse, staff, parent, medical doctor should collaborate to determine plans for frequent but sporadic missed days as well as extended absences. Please note that under some circumstances extended absences will require Home Bound instruction.

Excerpt from Connecticut Statute on Excused Absences:

A student’s absence from school shall be considered excused if written documentation of the reason for the absence has been submitted within ten school days of the student’s return to school or in accordance with Section 10-210 of the Connecticut.

General Statutes and meets the following criteria:
B. For the tenth absence and all absences thereafter, a student’s absences from school are considered excused for the following reasons:
1.student illness (Note: all student illness absences must be verified by an appropriately licensed medical professional to be deemed excused, regardless of the length of absence.

Best Practices in Documentation of Absences
Districts can take some of the following steps to improve overall attendance and compliance to attendance policies:

1. Leveraging school nurses: School nurses can be a great resource in dealing with medical related absences. Using their expertise can especially benefit those students who have limited access to medical professionals.

Home Bound Instruction

Students with PANS are medically fragile. As such, students with PANS may be absent from school more for more than 9 consecutive days and may require Home Bound instruction. Home Bound Instruction is considered the most restrictive placement. Students with PANS may require this placement when a) they are too sick to attend school for extended periods b) require a non-infections environment that the school can’t provide. Instruction is designed to ensure the continuity of educational services between school and home placement. The goal is to facilitate the return to the school setting, as it is a temporary placement.

Excerpt from CT Home bound Regulations

(All States will vary from some degree)
BofE shall provide Home bound “instruction to a child in public schools”... “when such child is unable to attend school due to a verified medical reason”

The physician’s statement must state: “That the child’s treating physician has consulted with the school health supervisory personnel and has determined that attendance at school with reasonable accommodations is not feasible;” and that “the child will be absent from school for at least 10 consecutive days or that the child’s condition is such that the child may be required to be absent for short, repeated periods of time during the school year”

The physician’s statement must state: “That the child’s treating physician has consulted with the school health supervisory personnel and has determined that attendance at school with reasonable accommodations is not feasible”

The Massachusetts regulation requiring educational services in the home or hospital is 603 CMR 28.03(3)(c).

Upon receipt of a physician's written order verifying that any student enrolled in a public school or placed by the public school in a private setting must remain at home or in a hospital on a day or overnight basis, or any combination of both, for medical reasons and for a period of not less than fourteen school days in any school year, the principal shall arrange for provision of educational services in the home or hospital. Such services shall be provided with sufficient frequency to allow the student to continue his or her educational program, as long as such services do not interfere with the medical needs of the student. The principal shall coordinate such services with the Administrator for Special Education for eligible students. Such educational services shall not be considered special education unless the student has been determined eligible for such services, and the services include services on the student's IEP.

Home Bound Instruction Resource Links

Connecticut
The CT SDE adopted new regulations, which went into effect on July 1, 2013.
All school nurses, school medical advisors and school personnel should be aware of the new language and requirements of the regulations.

CT SDE - Subject Matter Of Regulation: Special Education
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Massachusetts
Mass Dept of Elementary and Secondary Education
Question and Answer Guide on the Implementation of Educational Services in the Home or Hospital - 603 CMR 28.03(3)(c) and 28.04(4)
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Maine
Maine Unified Special Education Regulation Birth to Age Twenty
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New Hampshire
NH DOE - Ed 1111.05 Home Instruction for School-Aged Children
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Rhode Island
RI BOE Regulations Governing The Education of Children with Disabilities-300.115(C) Continuum of special education program placement: home bound and hospital instructional programs
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Vermont
Vermont Agency of Education - 1252 Instruction for Home bound and Hospitalized Students
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Absences & Home Bound

Excused Absences & Home Bound Instructions Laws

Excused Absences

Excused Absence Resources Links

Home Bound Instruction

Home Bound Instruction Resource Links