- December 16, 2025
’Tis the season to travel, and many parents struggle with high prices for plane tickets and arranging plans to see family and friends in distant cities. That can lead to some tricky decisions between saving money on airfare and having a child miss extra days of school and potentially fall behind.
The policy in Flagler County Public Schools is that parents may excuse their children from school for up to five days per term —10 per school year. Administrators may give five additional excused absences per year.
Student Services Director Katrina Townsend stated that the current policy also says vacations are not considered justification for excused absences. That means schools are not required to assist students in making up work or tests. If a student misses a test because of a trip to Disney World, for example, the teacher does not need to make special arrangements for the student to take the test.
The School Board confirmed its policy regarding attendance at the Nov. 15 meeting, but they added clarification at the request of Board members Andy Dance and Colleen Conklin.
Dance said he has been approached by parents about the issue.
“What they’re looking for is some flexibility,” Dance said. He indicated that expensive travel arrangements were of particular concern for the parents.
Townsend said the general principal is this: “When there are regularly held school days, they’re expected to be there.”
However, she said the purpose of a truancy is to keep students from missing more than 15 days and to make sure parents are involved and aware.
She added that parents aren’t required to give an explanation for why they are excusing their children from school — up to five days per term. She said that even those five days per term can be difficult for some students to overcome.
Also, at Conklin’s request, the School Adopted additional phrases to suggest to parents what could be considered acceptable for excused absences, including important public functions, student conferences, state and national competitions, administration-approved post-secondary educational visits.
