A new policy requiring Richmond students to be marked absent for the day if they arrive more than 80 minutes after the start of classes without a written excuse is being abandoned.

Harry Hughes, chief academic officer for Richmond Public Schools, notified principals on Tuesday to stop following the attendance policy he imposed Aug. 30 and re-emphasized in an Oct. 2 email.

In an Oct. 15 email obtained by the Free Press, Mr. Hughes acknowledged that his attempt to stiffen attendance requirements did not comply with state law.

“I did not realize that the Virginia State Code states that an unexcused absence is defined as a student being absent for the entirety of a day,” he wrote to principals.

Questions about Mr. Hughes’ imposition of the policy change without approval of the Richmond School Board were raised at the board’s Oct. 7 meeting. The administration indicated then the policy change would be dropped and notified the board that corrections to student attendance logs would need to be made at a few schools. However, the policy appears to have remained in force until Mr. Hughes issued the formal notice that it was no longer in effect.

In his email, Mr. Hughes noted that he issued the tougher attendance policy as “guidance” based on a statement in the School Board-approved policy manual: “The School Board believes that for students to benefit from instruction, the student (sic) must be present at the time instruction is scheduled to start and remain in school for the entirety of the day.”