Attendance

School Attendance

Our goal is to assist you to provide the best educational program for your child. We can be successful if your student is in school every day and on time. If your student is struggling to attend school, please contact your child’s Principal for support.

Absence Reporting

Please call your child's school to report an absence.

Student Tardiness

Please have the student check in at the office before going to class.

General Absences

Children cannot learn if they are not in school. Daily school attendance improves student achievement. Children learn early about being on time and not missing school; teach your child that school attendance is an important family value. Children ages 6 to 18 years must attend every school day.

The state only awards funding to school districts for actual attendance. The state does not fund districts for the excused absences listed below. Always review the school calendar and plan activities and vacations during days off. No pupil whose attendance is excused shall have grades or academic credit lost if assignments and tests can be reasonably completed.

Other attendance reports, such as truancy, rely on excused and unexcused absences. There are legal consequences if your child misses too much school. You must send a note and/or phone the school within 72 hours to clear any excusable absences. Parents/Guardians have the right to be notified on a timely basis if their child is absent from school without permission. Unexcused absences are recorded as truancy.

A Student Shall be Excused From School for the Following Reasons

Illness
Medical, dental, optometry, or chiropractic services
Quarantine
Funeral of immediate family, limited to 1 day in the state, 3 days out of state
Court appearance*
Illness of custodial child*
Any funeral attendance*
Religious holiday or ceremony*
Religious retreats limited to 4 hours per semester*
Employment conferences*
Other reason pursuant to board policy*

A student absent from school for any of the approved reasons above shall be allowed to complete all assignments and tests missed during the absence that can be reasonably provided and, upon satisfactory completion within a reasonable period of time, shall be given full credit. The teacher of the class from which a student is absent shall determine which tests and assignments shall be reasonably equivalent to, but not necessarily identical to, the tests and assignments that the student missed during the absence.

Verification of Absence

The following methods may be used to verify student absences:

Written note, fax, email, or voice mail from parent/guardian or parent representative.
Conversation, in person or by telephone, between the verifying employee and the student’s parent/guardian or parent representative. The employee shall subsequently record the following:
- Name of student
- Name of parent/guardian or parent representative
- Name of verifying employee
- Date(s) of absence
- Reason for absence
Visit to the student’s home by the verifying employee, or any other reasonable method which establishes the fact that the student was absent for the reasons stated.
Physician’s verification
- When excusing students for confidential medical services or verifying such appointments, district staff shall not ask the purpose of such appointments but may contact a medical office to confirm the time of the appointment.
- When a student has had 8 absences in the school year for illness verified by methods listed above, any further absences for illness shall be verified in the form of a note from a physician.
Such verification must occur within five school days of the student returning to school from the absence.

Quick Links

When Do Absences Become a Problem?

Chronic Absence
18 or more days in a school year

Warning Signs
10-17 days in a school year

Satisfactory
9 or fewer absences in a school year