A 13-year-old piano prodigy is treated as a truant instead of a star student.

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5. I'd like to know what the law is there

Some states have a maximum number of allowed absences. Maybe the administration's hands are tied in this matter. I know when I was in school that if you missed more than five days in a semester long class or ten days in a year long class that you automatically failed no matter what the reason. Several students were unfairly screwed by that law, but quite a few poorer students were helped greatly because it meant their parents (or usually parent) had to make sure they went to school. Overall, it was a good thing.