Student Handbook Excused and Unexcused Absences

Excused Absences

Excused absences are defined as absences that the parents have notified the school about in writing or by phone. Unless written or oral notice has been given to the school in advance, it is the parent’s responsibility to contact the school office by telephone (598-6266) by 8:40 a.m. each day the student will be absent. If this is not done, the school office will attempt to contact the parents.

Any oral or written excuse must include the date or dates absent (morning, afternoon, or all day). A written excuse must always have the signature of the parent. The office may occasionally telephone parents to confirm written excuses. It is the student’s and parent’s responsibility to see that the school is contacted about a student’s absence. Students returning to school whose parents have not contacted the school will have a maximum of one school day to do so. At the end of one day or 24 hours of the absence, the absence will be unexcused.

A Student who is ill with what appears to be a flu-like illness with high fever, vomiting, joint pain, diarrhea and other symptoms similar in nature should stay home and will not be admitted into school until after a normal temperature has been reached for at least 24 hours. All absences for an occurrence of a flu-like illness will be counted as 1 full day regardless of the duration of the event to insure that a student does not return to school before the illness has run its course and the student is no longer exhibiting flu-like symptoms. Students who accrue more than 3 consecutive days or more of absence related to flu, a flu-like illness a surgical procedure, or an accident causing an extended period of recovery from an injury will have those days counted as 1 for the purposes of attendance.

a. Parents are required to contact the school office in the event of an extended absence and have that absence noted in Infinite Campus.

Makeup Work

Students will be given the opportunity to make up missed work for absence from school. Such work shall be done only at a time that does not interfere with class instruction. Requests for teacher assistance is encouraged but shall be scheduled at the convenience of the instructor. Make up work is to be completed two days after a single absence, or at an appropriate time for a large absence (two school days for each day of absence).

It is the goal of the District to develop responsibility in our students. Either prior to or after an absence it is the responsibility of the student to meet with their teachers to receive all missed assignments and tasks.

Whenever a student is absent from class, they can expect to be assigned a reasonable amount of makeup work. If the student misses a test, a different test covering the same material may be given. If the student has missed discussion or lecture material, written work may be assigned. Students should report to class after an absence with the work completed that was assigned before the absence.

School-sponsored Absences

Are defined as when the student is absent from school for the purpose of representing the school in a school activity. The student is not counted absent for this but is responsible for making up missed work.

Tardiness

Tardiness is defined as a student who is not in their assigned room when the bell rings shall be considered tardy.

Tardies will be of two classifications – unexcused tardies and excused tardies. Oversleeping is not an excused tardy. Excused tardies will be granted in case of a student getting to school late because of bad weather, car trouble, or some home emergency. Excused tardies will be recorded as tardies, but no punishment will be connected to them unless a student piles up an excessive amount of them. Excused tardies require the parent to contact the principal within one day. Otherwise, it will remain on the books as a regular tardy. If no contact is made from parents/guardians within one day, unknown tardies become unexcused.

Students arriving late to school on the bus will not be counted tardy on the permanent record. Should a student arrive at school late and feels there are grounds for an excused tardy, the student should report to class, and then have his parents contact the Administrative Assistant by the next morning. If a student is tardy, the teacher will record the tardy electronically via the DDN Infinite Campus program. The student should not be sent to the principal's office.

The principal will track these tardies on Infinite Campus and when a student has three (3) in a nine (9) week period, the student will serve detention. The detention will be served at the discretion of the Principal. Excessive tardies can result in other punishments such as in-school suspension. In the case of excused tardies, it will depend on the particular situation as to when punishment is considered. In the case of a bad winter, there would be more leniency, etc.

Should a student be kept late in a class at the teacher's request, the student should obtain a pass slip to present to the next teacher. Otherwise, the student will be marked tardy.

Unexcused Absences

Are defined as absences where the parent has not notified the school, the student has left the school without permission, or the student is not in assigned class. This also includes students who go home for lunch and fail to notify the school when they are not returning for the remainder of the day.

A student, who skips school without parental permission or checking out from the office, will receive a zero for the content missed. A student may be suspended in addition to this. A second skip, whether from a class or study hall, will result in a suspension.

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