08/26/2026
Important Attendance Updates for the 2026-27 School Year
Dear Oak Hills Families,
As we begin the new school year, we want to make sure you're aware of some important updates to how our district approaches student attendance.
What's Changing
Due to updates in Ohio law (House Bill 96), school districts are now required to place greater emphasis on chronic absenteeism, including instructional time missed even when absences are excused. To reflect these changes, we've:
Updated our district attendance board policy
Revised each building's attendance page to match the new policy
Launched a new Attendance Q&A page to help answer your questions
We encourage every family to visit the new Q&A page to understand what's different this year. The short version: an excused absence (illness, medical appointments, etc.) is still excused — but the hours missed now count toward whether a student is considered “chronically absent.”
A student is considered chronically absent when they miss at least 10% of the minimum instructional hours required during the school year — for any reason, including excused and unexcused absences. This differs from truancy, which is based only on unexcused absences. Students need to miss only about two to three days a month to be on track toward chronic absenteeism by year's end.
Earlier Notification & Tiered Support
Under the new state requirements, districts must provide early parental notification and a tiered system of support for students with attendance concerns. Here's how Oak Hills is putting that into practice:
Families will begin being notified once a student has missed 3.5% of instructional hours, so we can connect early — before an occasional absence becomes a pattern.
Our schools will use a tiered system of monitoring and interventions that increases support as absences increase, so students receive the right level of help at the right time.
Each building has an Absence Intervention Team to work directly with students and families, identify barriers to attendance (such as transportation, health, or family circumstances), and connect them with helpful resources.
This approach isn't about punishment — it's about understanding why a student is missing school and working together early to help them get back on track.
Our Attendance Partners
This year, Oak Hills is proud to partner with several organizations to support strong attendance across our schools:
Stay in the Game
FC Cincinnati
National Attendance & Engagement Meta Network
Hamilton County Education Service Center’s Regional Attendance Collaborative
These partnerships will help us bring new resources, engagement strategies, and support to families as we work together to keep students in the classroom.
What You Can Do
Keep your child home when they're genuinely sick — that hasn't changed
Try to schedule appointments outside of school hours when possible
Reach out to your child's school if attendance barriers are making regular attendance difficult
Visit our Attendance Q&A page for full details: https://www.ohlsd.us/parent-resources/attendance-38/
We know families want what's best for their students, and regular attendance is one of the strongest predictors of student success. We're here to partner with you every step of the way.
Thank you for your continued partnership,
Oak Hills Local School District’s District Attendance Team
Be Here. Belong Here. Grow Here.
