Heights Elementary Schools Will Call Parents If Students No Show

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH — Cleveland Heights-University Heights elementary schools will now be required to call families within 120 minutes of a student's unexcused absence. That means if a student does not come to school, and the child's guardians did not warn the school about the absence, the district will reach out to families.

The policy stems from an Ohio law that goes into effect April 4. House Bill 66, also called Alianna's Alert, will impact all Ohio schools. In the Cleveland Heights-University Heights district, only the elementary schools did not have an existing policy about contacting parents quickly in the event of an unexcused absence.

Current elementary school policy says that if a CH-UH student is marked as an unexcused absence during the first period of the school day, secretaries will make a personal phone call to the family. With the law now in place, if the secretary cannot reach the family, an automated follow-up phone call will go out between 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.

"If a parent or guardian contacts the school about the student’s excused or unexcused absence within 120 minutes of the start of the school day, the school will not need to follow the above procedure," the CH-UH School District said in a statement. "This procedure is already in place at the middle schools, high school, and Options Program."

House Bill 66 started life as Senate Bill 82, legislation introduced by State Senator Sandra Williams, a Democrat from Cleveland. She named the legislation after Alianna DeFreeze, a student that was killed on her way to school in 2017.

The bill was passed before the end of last year's legislative session.

“I am pleased that Governor Kasich signed Alianna’s Alert into law,” said Williams. “This bill takes an important step toward ensuring that our children are safe when walking or taking public transportation to school. Alianna’s Alert will be a constant reminder that the safety of our children should be of serious concern.”