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. 

Absence:  

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, 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. Absences for other reasons (including vacations) and unreported absences are considered unexcused.

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. 

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”. 

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. 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. Please notify the office within two weeks of planned student absence. Additionally, the IS contract must be turned into the office and not the teacher, in order for credit to be received. 

Leaving School: 

If your child must leave school before the regular dismissal time, she/he should bring a note to the classroom teacher specifying the purpose of the absence, the departure time, and who will be picking up your student. 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. 

After School Plans: 

Please make plans ahead of time. Children are not allowed to make phone calls from school in order to arrange to go home with a friend after school, and we do not have enough staff to take messages for students regarding such plans. When primary grade children (K–2) have made advance plans that differ from usual practice, please send a note to the teacher indicating with whom they will be going after school.