A conversation I recently had on behalf of my son:   

"Attendance Line, Mary speaking."

"I’d like to report that my son will not be in school today."

"Oh, is he ill?"

"No, he decided not to come to school today. We have a policy at home that if he’s not in the car by 7:35am, he loses his ride to school."

"Is this excused or non-excused?"

"I have to decide that, too?"

"You can report it either way. You have the power."

"What does it mean to be non-excused?"

"Non-excused is bad."

<Laugh>

"I’ve never met you before, but you are the perfect person to man this attendance line."

<Laugh>

"I try not to take this too seriously."

"What’s the ramification of non-excused?"

"Well, he’s never had a non-excused absence. He’s in middle school, right?"

"No, he’s in high school."

"Oh, then it’s bad. If he has four unexcused absences in a class, he doesn’t get credit for that class." 

"In that case, mark it as unexcused."

"Yep, that’s how they learn. I go through that with my own son."

"Hey, thanks."