A Cortez Middle School student recently stayed home from school for four days when a "family member" passed away. But when the assistant principal Tom Burris found out the deceased was a cat, he chalked it up as just another one of the many bogus excuses parents use to allow their kids not to attend class.

It’s a scenario that is all too familiar to Burris and he has no intention of taking excessive excused absences lightly.

According to CMS records, in a student population of approximately 775, 310 CMS students have 10 or more excused absences on their record, 110 days into the school year. Of those, 64 children have 20 or more excused absences, 13 kids have 30 or more and three students have missed more than 40 days — all excused by a parent.

Burris said these numbers are unwarranted, and he is making every attempt to bring the issue to the attention of parents and administrators alike, asking the school board for support by enforcing stricter policies.

"We’re concerned that kids with more than 10 excused absences are cutting into their educational time," Burris said. "But we also realize that in many cases those kids are truly sick and that there is truly something wrong that they haven’t been here."

However, in several instances school officials believe parents are allowing their children to stay home from school when they are mildly ill or if getting there becomes a minor inconvenience — an attitude that conveys a lack of respect for education, said CMS Principal Byron Wiehe.

"Some parents just don’t care," Wiehe said. "It’s just not important to them."

Burris has taken action by sending out a letter to the parents of students who have more than 10 excused absences, alerting them that the school will be closely monitoring their child’s attendance and requesting that the parents provide documentation to support excusing an absence. He said that the school started sending out the letter two weeks ago as a new tool to bring attention to attendance problems.

"The discipline committee came up with the number of 10 for excused absences and felt like that should be enough," Burris said. "At that time, the parents would have to provide a doctor’s note, or proof of death in the immediate family. If they didn’t do that, then they would be counted unexcused. "

By law, students are allowed no more than four unexcused absences in a month or 10 in a school year, Burris said. At that point, the school can take action by recommending expulsion or by taking legal action.

"It goes from excused, to unexcused, to some kind of judicial action," Burris said. "We take them to court in front of Judge Sharon Hansen. She asks questions about the attendance and then orders that the kids go to school and in most cases that works really well. Judge Hansen has been really supportive of the school."

So far this year 15 CMS students have appeared in court for violating attendance policies and one has been expelled. However, the possibility of going to court may also be a contributor to the increase in excused absences.

"They know that I’m going to take them to court for unexcused," Burris said. "Now those parents that are lackadaisical about education have moved up their concern just to keep themselves out of court."

Burris said that poor attendance not only affects the individual’s potential for learning, but is a reflection of the school as well. He emphasized that a student who has missed nearly half of the school year will inevitably have difficulty with tests such as the CSAPs.

"I don’t believe it’s fair to us to be graded on a kid who’s been absent," Burris said. "The governor doesn’t let us out of the responsibility of testing every student that goes through the school so I want to make every effort that I can to get those kids into school. We want our best chance at good grades for CMS."

Burris said good attendance at school for kids is just as important as adults showing up for work, even if it is inconvenient.

"The kids — this is their job and they have to perform here," he said. "But I’ve got kids who have shown a pattern of consistent absences through the years, and that’s where I want to go with this excessive absence policy is to limit that."

Burris said that the more stringent attendance policy may help parents by giving them more leverage when dealing with a child who is "playing sick."

"In many cases this will help out the parent because the kid is so prone to saying, ‘Mom, I don’t feel good,’ when they don’t want to go to school."

Burris said the most important thing he hopes to accomplish is to encourage a better dialogue between school officials and parents and make sure there is a general awareness about attendance policies.

"People don’t realize how big this problem is," Burris said. "Many times the parents are completely unaware."

Despite the irresponsible parents, Burris said there are many parents who are very diligent about their child’s attendance.

"We’ve had parents who call up and say ‘my kid is not excused for today. He’s out ditching,’ or ‘he won’t get up.’ There are really responsible, up-front parents who let the chips fall where they may with the kid because he’s the one making these choices."

Burris encourages parents to call or go to the school if they have questions.