In, Absentia! Someone A-miss here.

"Present!" Even if/when you're actually NOT! As in getting counted, when you are not in, to speak for your-self. That is, when you are, in reality, absent from school, but still get counted. This, first Wednesday of October, being the first of two..."Student Count Days". The other, of course, is the second Wednesday in February (is it a coincidence it's the shortest month, which is why the counters decided to stretch it out, until the second of the month...go figure...) At least in our Great Lake state, as it stands, the state of things in how they, who have their hands on the purse strings, calculate a per student formula, where each district is reimbursed for how many are seated on these noted days -- 90% up front, holding back 10% for good measure, I guess...So a big cash withdrawal, "10/4!" - as in "Hunt for Red October" eh? In any case, what's more note-worthy here is that one does not actually have to be present in class on the special day, to be countable...

"You're (not) excused": All-most without conditions, that is. At least in our Great Lake state, the state of things, at this point in time, just a day or so, after "Count Day" -- it turns out there's still plenty of time. That those that first drafted, voted on, and finally passed, the current reimbursement formula -- whatever they had in mind, apparently an attempt to off-set what could be the parents' collective mind-set, who have already grown weary, if not "a little jaded" about how urgent it is to get their children to school, let alone "well rested" (especially on the increasing numbers of standardized test days) -- they included some exclusionary clauses: that in the case of a legitimate absence, such as a sick child (what do you think of those kids who come to school "under the weather" just to earn what some schools give out as a "perfect attendance award"? Pet peeve!) as long as they return within 30 days, after the count is taken, they...count. And, in the absence of an excuse...an "unexcused absence" the child in question can be counted as long as they show up ten days later. Lastly, but not in the least, the ones that have already managed to get "suspended" are countable...up to 45 days later (the later the better, depending...) So, it seems that the legislators had everyone in mind, that they had it all covered, to ensure that just about everyone that is countable is counted, to ensure what is considered, at least in the current educational climate, the fairest way to determine who gets how much and when...So what about those last few hold-outs? What used to simply called out as "truant!" when not "present"...

Door dashers, bashers: In earlier school daze, there used to be an actual department, personnel, set aside for the occasional students who were either playing "hooky" or simply "skipping" (school, that is) which could, if it became a pattern, come to the attention of the "truant officer" who might just have to pay a visit...round up all the non-comers, and drop them off at the school. A position that has been threatened by a scarcity of funds which are in turn dependent on...how many students...pretty convo-luted, eh? In any case, to the rescue, to assist the administrators and teachers comes an invention of educational psychologists, in the form of something that has been around a long time, but brought back out under a new label..."positive peer pressure😕😠!" Which, in this case, on such critical situations where both time and numbers need to be opti-mized -- "OK kids, you all have cell phones, if you don't get hold of your classmate that is MIA by the time I'm done taking roll call, you can count yourselves IN, from recess.".😟😠😢 Highly effective.

No Sweat: As in don't sweat it if you missed the count day; no FOMO here, in the Great Late State, on Count Day. And in the case that you are sweating, due to high temperature (as in fever😡) no need to come to school sick -- PLEASE stay home, and bring a written excuse upon your return, so you can get... 

Counting on You: To rejoin me in celebrating everything Recess!