Student Absent Reporting:

Attendance and achievement goes hand in hand. As such, all students (regardless of age or cycle) are expected to be in attendance for the entire school day when not home due to illness.

If your child must stay home, there are two ways to report your child's absence:

• CALL the attendance line and inform our office your child will be absent. Your call should include the following information:

  • Student's name

  • Room Number

  • Date(s) of absence

  • Reason for absence (must be one of the six valid reasons), with details explaining if there is a family emergency, concern for child's safety, or situation beyond the student's control.

  • Parent/guardian phone number

• Submit an E-Absence in ASPEN by logging into Parent Portal.

Valid Reasons for Student Absence - CPS recognizes six reasons for an absence to be considered excused:

• student illness

• observance of a religious holiday (absence note required)

• death in the immediate family

• family emergency

• circumstances which cause reasonable concern to the parent for their child's safety or health (must be approved by the principal)

• other situations beyond the control of the student (as determined by principal)

Public Act 102-0321 amended the compulsory attendance laws to allow mental and behavioral health reasons as excused absences. Specifically, the School Code has been amended to include mental and behavioral health reasons. The changes include:

• For up to 5 days, absences can be attributed to mental or behavioral health; the cause associated is illness  

• No requirement for a medical note for mental or behavioral health days,

• Allows a child to be given the opportunity to make up any school work missed during the mental or behavioral health absence”, and the authority for a school to refer a student to the appropriate school support personnel after the second mental health day.

For more information, click HERE.

Tardy Arrivals: A child is deemed Tardy when they are in their classroom after 8:45am. Any child who is tardy must come to the office to be checked in.

Note: According to the CPS Student Code of Conduct, “Persistent tardiness to school or class (3 or more incidents per semester)” is classified as a violation of code 1-6 and is entered into the ASPEN Record Keeping system.