Attendance Procedures

Attendance:  

Regular attendance and arrival on time are crucial to your child’s success at school. We request that you do all that is possible to arrange vacations around the school calendar. Letters will go home to parents for excessive absences, three or more unexcused absences, or excessive tardiness. We strongly encourage daily attendance for your child’s optimal education. School starts at 8:15 each day and your child will be considered late if entering class after 8:15. 

Absences:  

Parents are requested to call the school office (482-2402) before 9:00 a.m. on the day of a child’s absence. The phones are answered by 7:30 a.m., but an answering machine is on for messages when the school office is closed or the office assistant is busy.

Please state your name, the name of the child, teacher or room number, and reason for the absence. Please keep your child at home until he or she is completely recovered from an illness and able to participate in school activities. Children must be fever free for 24 hours before returning to school. Please do not send your child to school if they are vomiting or have diarrhea. Students should be free of these conditions for 24 hours before returning to school. 

Excused/Unexcused Absence:  

Absences are excused for illness, doctor/dental appointments, or funeral of an immediate relative. However it is preferred to make appointments before or after school hours. If this is not possible and your child must be released from school, please come into the office and sign your child out. Students must be signed out/in at the office. Absences for other reasons (including vacations) and unreported absences are considered unexcused. 

Late and Tardy: 

Students are considered late if they are not in their classroom when the bell rings at 8:15 a.m. Any student arriving after 8:15 a.m. must first go to the office for a tardy slip before entering their classrooms. Since they will have been marked “absent” when attendance was taken, this procedure changes that “absent” to a “late”.  If students arrive after 30 minutes from the time school begins, or later, they will be considered “tardy”. After five (5) tardies, a parent will be contacted by form letter.  After eight (8) tardies, a second contact with the parent will be made by form letter.  After twelve (12) tardies, the student may be referred to the School Attendance Review Board (SARB).

First Day of School:

Students who do not show up within the first 10 days of school in August will be dropped from the school roster unless prior permission by the district is given. If space is available at the school when the student returns, the student will be reinstated. If no space is available, the student will be assigned to another school in the district where space is available. If the student is ill, parents must notify the school of the absences and provide documentation.

Prior Knowledge of Absences: 

Whenever students are away from school, they miss valuable instruction. If you know in advance that your child will have to miss some days of school for any reason, please be sure to notify both your child’s teacher and the school office of the anticipated absence. Parents are encouraged to put their child on Independent Study if the child is going to be out for 5 days or more. 

Independent Study: 

The school sites report Independent Study (“IS”) Average Daily Attendance (“ADA”) for students taking vacation and other days off away from the regular classroom. Education Code 46300(e) (1) states that ADA can only be generated for independent study for 5 or more consecutive school days.  A maximum of 2 independent study contracts may be done in one school year.  Contact the teacher and the office at least 10 days ahead of your departure date to arrange for an independent study contract so your child can keep up with the class. The IS contract must be completely filled out and signed by the student, parent and the administrator in charge, at least 2 weeks in advance of absence.  All rules concerning the contract, including the days returned, the materials to be kept, and the date of return apply to independent study.  If the contract is returned and work completed the first day back to school, the absences on days missed will be excused.  If work is not back on the scheduled contract date or work is incomplete ALL days missed will be counted as UNEXCUSED.  Independent study requests for longer than 10 school days will need to be approved by the district superintendent.

Homework During Absences:

When a child is absent during the school day, especially due to illness, please do not have the child come after school on the same day to get his/her homework. If a child is ill, the student needs to stay home the entire day. Aside from the student’s own health, there is a risk that others may be exposed. Each teacher has a homework policy that will be described at Back To School Night.

Leaving School: 

Upon leaving or returning to school for any reason and at any time, the parent must check the student out or in at the school office. The office staff will call the child down from his/her classroom to be dismissed. During school hours, children will only be released to parents or other adults who are listed on that child’s emergency card.  Therefore, it is extremely important that you remember to inform the office when these adults (e.g., babysitter) change so the office can update the emergency cards. It is helpful to also call the office just prior to arriving, so the child may wait for you in the office to be signed out.