“Right now there is no consistent policy for reporting these absences to Child Protective Services so there are delays in following up on what might be a clue to child abuse in the home,’’ said Spano. “In some cases, schools wait until the end of the school year to report these absences, making it difficult for CPS to follow up on the information.’’

 In a letter to State Education Commissioner Richard Mills, Spano pointed to the recent high-profile child death case of Nixzmary Brown as evidence that more must be done to improve the sharing of information between schools and CPS. The seven-year-old girl, who was allegedly beaten to death by her step-father, had 20 unexplained absences from school which were never reported to the NYC Administration for Children’s Services.

Spano added that sometimes a school’s report of unexplained absences can be used by CPS as additional evidence to convince a judge to force uncooperative parents to comply with a CPS investigation.

“We understand that many cases of unexplained absences, especially with older children, will not lead to a finding of neglect, but there is certainly a chance that in some cases, a tragedy might be averted,’’ said Spano. “We need the cooperation of school officials to ensure the health, safety and well being of Westchester County’s children.’’