Attendance

ATTENDANCE

Why do you have to be here?

There are various reasons that schools place such an emphasis on attendance. School is like a Job. If you show up and do your work, you dramatically increase your chances of success. Any student who misses class regularly misses the opportunity to participate actively in classroom activities. Lack of attendance affects learning, which affects your grades, and eventually may influence credit earned. In short, learning is dependent upon being in class.

State law requires you to be enrolled in school. If you are under eighteen years old, Washington State Law allows for prosecution if you have excessive unexcused or excused absences.

How to Stay OUT of the Assistant Principal's Office!

If you want to keep out of hot water, follow these simple steps when you have to miss school:

1. If you are absent, bring a note, signed by your parents, within 24 hours of your return to school or have your parent call the attendance office (807-7235) at the time of your absence. If you don’t your absence will be considered unexcused, and you will be assigned detention time!

2. If you leave school during the school day, stop by the attendance office, present a note signed by a parent (or get a parent on the phone for the attendance secretary to talk to), and sign out. If you don't, your absence will be considered unexcused!

3. If you miss class because you were in the counseling center, nurse's office, or other school office, sign in and out of these offices. If you don't, your absence may be considered unexcused!

4. An absence may not be excused if it causes a serious adverse effect on your educational process as determined by an assistant principal.

5. If, after the first month of school, you are absent more than 10% of the time in any class and your academic progress is being adversely affected, parent contact will be made, counselors will be involved in the process, and you will be put on an attendance contract.

Tardy…

If you arrive to class after the final bell sounds, you are tardy. A tardy can be excused If you have a note from the staff member who detained you, or a note from the office excusing your tardy for a legitimate reason.

Consequences will be classroom-based for the first two. If you have more than three tardies in a class in one semester, you will be referred to the office.

Planned Absence

If you know you will be absent from school due to parent requests, medical appointments, religious observances, etc., make the necessary arrangements with the Attendance Office prior to departing. A form is available to be signed by your teachers, parents, and administration.

Unexcused Truancy/Absence

Unexcused absences are dealt with in a four-step process.

1. The first two times we deal with an unexcused truancy/absence it will result in one to two hours of detention.

2. A third and fourth unexcused truancy/absence will get you three to four hours of detention.

3. A fifth and six unexcused truancy/absence results in one to three days of ISS, parent contact, possible modification of schedule and Becca.

4. Further unexcused absences will result in more ISS time, possible court action, and possible corrective action and/or with loss of credit.

It's the Law

Be careful not to have unexcused absences. A law, called the “Becca Law” lays out the following guidelines which all schools in the state must follow. “Becca” was a girl from the spokane area who often skipped school and was killed one day while skipping school. The Washington State Legislature passed this attendance law to let parents and guardians know of an attendance problem. (RCW 28A.225.010-140 and Board Policy 3122).