Implications
Not all illness reasons are valid. It was clear from the intervention
that 40% of absences reported as illness or injury at
the elementary level were related to transportation, family
activity, or family illness. Although family illness is illness
related, it is not the student who is sick. The demographics of
chronically or excessively absent students matched the
schools’ demographics except the Whites and Asians. This
could be because some of White students’ illness or injury
reports were in fact family travel. The overrepresentation
of Asians may be related to a lice infestation that moved
between refugee families at Elementary School 2.