Attendance
When your child is sick or will be late to school, it is required that a phone call be made before 8:30 a.m. to our school office at 761-3020.
The Board of Education and Administration believe that regular attendance is an important factor contributing to school success. Regular and punctual attendance of students is necessary in order that they may fulfill the assigned requirements as scheduled.
Students are marked tardy between 8:00 and 8:15, after that time students are recorded absent in quarter day increments.
In accordance with state law and Board Policy 431, parents may excuse their children for any reason they provide for all or part of no more than 10 days per year. In general, most absences from school are either considered “parent excused” or “school excused.”
Letters are sent to parents when they have excused their child for all or part of five days, reminding the parents that they are only allowed to excuse their child for no more than all or part of ten days. Letters are again sent to parents when they have exhausted the ten days they are allowed to excuse their child.
Please know that letters vary in the nature of their severity and importance depending on what letter you receive. For example, if you receive a five day school-excused absence letter, this serves as a check-in, or an FYI, that your child has missed five days due to sickness. In turn, if you receive a ten day parent-excused letter, this is a more serious letter and requires a meeting with the principal, as any future absences could become problematic. Questions, please contact your principal.
The building administrator may require parents to submit a doctor’s excuse in order to excuse the child from school. It is a good practice to provide a doctor’s excuse for any appointments your child has with a health care provider.
Unexcused absences are designated only by the building administrator and used for reasons such as the parent has not provided an excuse and the building administrator has not excused the student; the parent has excused the child but has exceeded the 10 days and the principal determines it is not an appropriate excuse; or the principal has required the parent to provide a medical excuse from a doctor for a student’s illness and the parent has not provided this.
A student is considered truant if he or she has an unexcused absence from school for part or all of one or more school days. Parents/guardians shall be notified when a student has an unacceptable absence(s). Notices shall be made by personal contact, mail, or telephone call. Consequences for truancies (unacceptable absences) shall be determined by the building administrator. The principal may direct the School Resource Officer to issue a truancy ticket.
A student is considered a “habitual truant” if he or she is absent from school without an acceptable excuse for part or all of five or more days on which school is held during a semester. The parent/guardian of a student who is a habitual truant shall be notified by certified or registered mail when the student initially becomes a habitual truant.
Students who are attending school in our district under open enrollment will not be allowed to return to school the following year if they have been identified as a habitual truant.
Please see Board Policy 431 for more information.
