this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2025
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Lawrence County Board of Education says ‘absences are not excused’ in most circumstances, even illness

A school district in Tennessee will no longer accept doctor’s notes as an excuse for a child’s absence in an apparent attempt to prepare them for the workplace.

New rules set out by the Lawrence County School System Board of Education state that “absences are not excused” and only permits them in a number of specific circumstances. Regular illness is not included in the list.

Sanctions for multiple instances of alleged truancy include loss of school event privileges and even referral to juvenile court for truancy.

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[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 153 points 1 week ago (3 children)

in an apparent attempt to prepare them for the workplace.

Doctors literally issue sick notes for employers, too.

On the one hand, I am in favor of eliminating the dependence on doctor's notes because it's just a waste of everyone's time (if someone says they're sick, just believe them and leave it at that). But to say that being sick is not an excuse for being absent is so many levels of mind-bogglingly dumb, I don't even know where to begin.

[–] Caffeinated_Sloth@lemmy.world 65 points 1 week ago (4 children)

For some people, getting a doctor’s note involves spending money for it because they don’t have medical insurance.

[–] skulblaka@sh.itjust.works 36 points 1 week ago

Well luckily now it doesn't matter, you're coming to work with tuberculosis no matter whether you can afford a doctor or not.

I'm curious how long it's going to take to kill off the entire state of Tennessee through treatable disease. Because that's the obvious end point of this policy.

[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Even people WITH insurance pay to see doctor in the United States.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 points 1 week ago

it also wastes the doctors time too, after each visit the doctor has write down the whole appointment in thier logs.

[–] gabereal@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I assumed most people were spending money to see a doctor, regardless of their insurance status, because insurance almost always requires co-pays. If you are insured, you are (hopefully) paying less to see a doctor than you otherwise would have, but you're usually going to be shelling out money for the doctor's visit either way.

[–] DanVctr@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

Hopefully, but most people have high deductibles that mean that their insurance doesn't really kick in until the end of the year, if at all.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The doctors note is just an intentional barrier to make calling in sick more difficult. Because no one in America has enough days off, so they take sick days to cover for incidentals, and that's somehow bad.

Buddy's gonna come to the office with the whooping ebola measles and shut down an office because everyone gets it. And they still won't learn.

[–] michaelmrose@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This is honestly rarely the case because most sick outs are for short term illnesses people rarely seek treatment for and primary care rarely has capacity to see anyone same day.

Meanwhile urgent care is expensive and could entail driving to and waiting hours to spend over $100. Nearly as arduous as going to work with the inverse effect on your bank balance. People aren't doing this.

It's most common to have a certain number of occurrences that are acceptable regardless of cause and to get a doctors note for a condition if it an ongoing issue will cause you to continually miss too many days

[–] Mirshe@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This depends on the employer. I have absolutely worked (in short bursts) for employers that have told me any sick time must be accompanied by a doctor's note, even for a routine illness like flu, cold, etc. This is usually an attempt to make sure people don't actually take days off, ever, especially since it's often combined with arcane PTO rules.

[–] michaelmrose@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Ya that employer is uniquely bad.

[–] Jiggle_Physics@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

It isn't unique at all actually. Throughout my years of work I have worked for, or come across, many employers who do this.

[–] michaelmrose@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

It used to be more possible and cheaper to visit nobody does that shit anymore and nobody goes to the DR with a cold