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Student Attendance

Attendance Policies and Procedures

Student Absence Note

Every time your child is absent, the attendance office needs to be notified in writing with a medical excuse or a parent note. Please use this form to send in an electronic excuse. While emailing a teacher about your child's absence is greatly appreciated, it is not considered an excuse.

Students are counted present only when they are actually in school, on homebound instruction, or are present at an activity authorized by the school principal. Family vacations, birthday parties, weddings, and/or educational sight-seeing family trips are all unlawful absences. A written excuse for a student’s absence must be turned in within two (2) days of the student’s return to school. An excuse should include the reason for and the date of the absence. If a student fails to bring a valid written excuse to school, the absence(s) will be coded as either unverified or unexcused in Powerschool. E-mails and/or phone calls to the teacher are not acceptable forms of excuses. Without a parental note, an absence is unverified, therefore it is considered unlawful. A parent may provide up to 10 parent notes excusing a student illness or an absence related to an immediate family member’s illness or death. However, in order for any subsequent absence related to an illness to be lawful it must be supported by a physician statement/medical note. Beginning with the 11th parent note, such excuses will be considered unlawful and will be coded as unexcused, unless approved by the principal as a lawful absence. All excuses shall be strictly confidential. Parents may submit excuses electronically on this form that is also available on our website.

An excused absence (including excused tardiness) shall permit a student to make up work missed during the absence.  A valid excuse must list the dates of absences, the reason for absence, and the signature of the parent/guardian or of a licensed medical doctor.  

Lawful absences shall include the following:

  1. Students who are ill and whose attendance would endanger their health or the health of others may be temporarily excused from attendance.

  2. Students who have a medical or dental appointment.

  3. Students in whose immediate family there is a serious illness or death.

  4. Students may be excused from attendance for recognized religious holidays of their faith.

  5. Students may be excused from attendance when participating in school related activities that have prior Board approval.

  6. Student’s absences due to suspension from school for discipline are lawful.  

  7. Prearranged absences for other reasons and/or extreme hardships at the discretion of the principal.

Unlawful absences shall include the following:

  1. Students who are willfully absent from school without the knowledge of their parent/legal guardian.

  2. Students who are absent without acceptable cause with the knowledge of their parent/legal guardian.

  3. Students who are absent from planned home-bound or home-based sessions.

TARDIES: 

Tardy to School:  When a student reports to school after 7:35 AM, he or she must be signed in at the front office by their parent/guardian. Students without a lawful tardy will be recorded with an unexcused tardy in PowerSchool.

Excessive Early Dismissals and/or tardies will result in a conference with a school administrator and/or his/her designee, which can result in a truancy violation.  During the conferene, parent/guardian and school personnel will develop a plan to ensure the student is in school.  If the plan is not followed, the parent will be turned over to the truancy officer.  This action may result in requiring the parent/guardian to appear before a Family Court judge.

TRUANCY:                                                             

A student is considered truant in the following ways: three consecutive unexcused absences, five unexcused absences, or any absence over ten days without a medical or legal excuse.  A Student Attendance Intervention Plan will be developed by the school, the student, and the parent(s) prior to any referrals to family court.

The importance of punctual and regular attendance for every student cannot be overemphasized.  Any student who is absent more than ten days, lawfully or unlawfully, will have each absence reviewed. All absences over ten must be classified as a lawful absence (medical, legal, or death in family). A student may be retained at the current grade level if the attendance requirements are not met.