> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.relyant.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Excusals

> How parents submit absence excusals, how staff review them, and how excusals change attendance records

An excusal is a parent's explanation for a student's absence on a school day. Approved excusals turn the student's attendance into an excused absence.

> [!NOTE]
>
> Parents submit excusals from the [parent portal](https://docs.relyant.app/edu/settings/parent-portal.md). To approve or reject excusals, you need attendance edit permission. By default, Owners, Admins, Teachers, and Requesters have it.

## How parents submit an excusal

Parents can open the excusal form in three ways: click **Submit excusal** on their child's overview, use the action on an absent day under **Recent attendance**, or follow the link in an absence email.

The form asks for:

* **Date of absence**. Turn on **Covers multiple days** and set a **Last day of absence** for a longer absence.
* **Reason** (required).
* **Supporting document** (optional), as a link, such as a medical certificate in a shared drive.

A multi-day excusal creates one excusal for each school day in the range. Weekends and non-school days are skipped. A range can't be longer than 30 days, and it must include at least one school day.

Members with the **Admin** role get an email for each submission. For a pending excusal, **Review Excusal** in the email opens the **Excusals** page.

## Review or auto-approve

The **Require staff review of parent excusals** switch in [Attendance settings](https://docs.relyant.app/edu/settings/attendance.md) controls what happens next:

| Setting | New excusals are | Attendance record |
| - | - | - |
| **On** | **Pending** until staff review them | Changes only after approval |
| **Off** | **Approved** immediately | Changes right away |

## Review excusals

**1. Open the queue**

In the rail, click **Attendance**, then **Excusals** in the panel. The badge next to **Excusals** shows how many excusals are pending.

**2. Check the details**

Each row shows the student, class, date, reason, who submitted it, and a **Document** link if one was attached. Use **Search student or class…** to narrow the list.

**3. Decide**

Click **Approve** or **Reject**. To approve several at once, select them and click **Approve selected**. When you reject, you can add an optional note. The guardian who submitted the excusal gets an email.

Decided excusals move to **Reviewed**, which shows the outcome, the reviewer, and the review date. Filter it by **Approved** or **Rejected**.

## How excusals change attendance

Excusals and attendance records link both ways:

* **Approve an excusal** after attendance is marked. The student's record for that day changes to your first active status in the **Excused Absence** category. The change appears in the record's history.
* **Mark attendance** after an excusal is approved. If a teacher marks the student with an **Unexcused Absence** status, Relyant applies the excused status instead.
* **Reject an excusal.** The attendance record stays as it is.

Pending excusals never change attendance.

> [!WARNING]
>
> Keep at least one active status in the **Excused Absence** category. Without one, approving an excusal doesn't change the attendance record.

### Override an approved excusal

On the **Take Attendance** page for a class, students with an excusal show **Excusal submitted** or **Excusal awaiting review** under their name. If a student has an approved excusal and you pick an **Unexcused Absence** status, Relyant asks **Override excusal?** Click **Mark Absent Anyway** to keep the absence.

## See a student's excusals

Open a student's profile, click the **Attendance** tab, and view **Excusals**. Parents see each excusal's status in the portal as **Pending review**, **Approved**, or **Not approved**.

## Related pages

> [card] [Take attendance](https://docs.relyant.app/edu/attendance/take-attendance.md)
>
> Mark attendance and view record history.

> [card] [Students](https://docs.relyant.app/edu/people/students.md)
>
> Open a student's attendance and excusals.


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