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Nevada wants to boost school attendance rates. Parents say inconsistent rules work against that

Nevada school districts apply attendance rules inconsistently, aggravating long-standing complaints and eroding trust, Rebecca Dirks Garcia, Las Vegas parent and Clark County organizer, says confusing policies remain a top issue in recent months.
Because reporting is annual, Nevada state law requires marking students absent if they miss more than 50 percent of a day, while districts determine many attendance policies, including notification triggers and excusal forms, with Clark County schools creating their own procedures.
Parents recount incorrect absence marks, lost medical verification documents, outdated manuals, and Katarina Rivers' 30 unreported class skips in 2023-2024; Katrina Green faced monthly outreach for seven months after her son's death.
Habitual truancy rules mean students at risk of chronic absenteeism face retention or denied credit, driver's-license suspension after three unexcused absences, and irregular monitoring imperils student safety.
Danielle Jones, director of Clark County's chronic absenteeism office, said Nevada pledged to cut chronic absenteeism in half and opened a parent-facing website, while experts recommend more frequent data collection citing Connecticut as a model.

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