Attendance Policy and Plan 

Attendance Policy and Plan P.S. 236

We are excited to share our school’s Attendance policy and plan. This policy and plan will hopefully

provide you with the information and guidance you need to help you help your child attend and stay in

school.

OUR SCHOOL COMMUNITY’S ATTENDANCE GOAL

Attendance matters. Missing a day of school means missing hours of instructional time. Research shows that students who attend regularly achieve greater success in school and in life. Our school’s collective goal for attendance remains the same. Whether in-person or remote, we want every child attending school every day or at least 95% of the school year.

ATTENDANCE TAKING

Our School will take Attendance every morning from 8:00am – 8:10am

ATTENDANCE DEFINITIONS

Present

In-person - Student attends (is physically present in the classroom/school learning environment) at least one full instructional period during the school day.

Remote -Student attends (is virtually present for) synchronous or asynchronous instruction for the equivalent of at least one full instructional period during the scheduled program day.

Absent 

In-person - A student that is not physically present in the classroom school learning environment for instruction during the scheduled school day.

Remote - Not virtually present for synchronous or asynchronous instruction.

1. Synchronous instruction is defined as live interaction between the teacher and student(s) each day at a scheduled time,

communicated in advance to parents and students. For more information, please contact the school.

2. Asynchronous learning refers to instruction and learning opportunities that are not centered on students and teachers

interacting at the same time. Asynchronous learning activities enable students to work at their own pace so they can learn

the same material at different times independently.

COMMUNICATION WITH FAMILIES

Our school uses Parent Square, phone call or parent letter to communicate with families about attendance:

It is very important for the school to have families’ up-to-date contact information. To make sure we can reach you, please alert us of any changes to your address or phone number by calling Ms. Mandell, Pupil Accounting Secretary (718) 444-6969 to update your address and/or phone number.

ABSENCES

If you know your child is going to miss school on a certain day or will be missing school for an extended period, please notify the school in advance by communicating with the teacher via Parent Square, sending a note to the teacher or emailing Ms. LaBella, at alabella@schools.nyc.gov.

If your child is absent, we will follow up by making a positive phone call, parent square message, text, or email home. This follow-up helps us to ensure that your child is safe, healthy and that your family has what it needs to help your child overcome the barriers to attending school.

While every single absence is equal to missed instructional time, we nonetheless mark absences as excused and unexcused. Please provide us with information on the reason for your child’s absence. Here is what you need to know regarding excused and unexcused absences:

● Excused Absence:

An excused absence may be excused for reasons including illness, injury, family emergency, religious observation, pre-arranged appointments.

● Unexcused Absence:

An unexcused absence is when too little to no information is provided when a student is marked absent for the day.

LATENESS

Even if a student is late, they are still marked as present as long as they attend for at least one instructional period. If you know your child is going to be late on a certain day please contact your child’s teacher via Parent Square.

Just as with absences, we flag lateness as excused and unexcused. Here is what you need to know regarding excused and unexcused lateness:

● Excused Lateness:

Lateness may be considered excused for the same reasons provided for absence e.g. illness/injury, religious observation, family emergency, pre-arranged appointments, or school or

bus delays or documented MTA delays.

● Unexcused Lateness:

Unexcused lateness is when a student is not in their homeroom, if in-person, or online for theirmorning meeting by 8:11 a.m. and has not provided reasons for lateness.

LEAVING EARLY

This section explains our school’s policy for a student’s early departure from the school day in both remote and in-person settings. Even if a student leaves school before the end of the school day, they are still marked as present as long as they attend for at least one instructional period. If your child is goingto leave early on a certain day, please notify the school by communicating with the teacher via Parent Square or email.

● Early Departure:

Leaving school early must be arranged in advance. A student can be dismissed from school early to the family or a person who has been identified on the Blue Card. Anyone picking up a studentmust come to the office and provide a photo ID. For the safety of all please follow the school policy for early pick-ups. The latest time to pick up your child early is 1:45pm. After this time, you will need to wait for the regular dismissal. Please aim to pick up your child either 10 minutes before or after their lunchtime due to our limited staff. Inform your child’s teacher via Parent Square if you plan to pick up your child early, and they will advise the best time to arrive.

We understand that emergencies occur and will accommodate them when necessary.

ATTENDANCE AND MAKE-UP WORK

If a child is absent or late, grades, coursework, or exams could be affected. Here is what you need to know regarding our grading policies and how we support our students with make-up work: 

Lateness to class may result in a lower class average due to the loss of instructional time in activities such as classroom participation, examinations, quizzes, dialogs, speeches, group work, etc. Students are not required to make up the exact hours of missed instructional time. If students master course content and satisfactorily meet expectations outlined in the curriculum, they will receive credit for the course.

How Can We Help?

This section shares information regarding our schools’ multi-tiered support plan. It is our hope that through these supports your children have what they need to attend school regularly.

COMMUNICATION

Every day a student is absent we will make a positive phone call home to check in and make sure the student and family are healthy. During parent-teacher conferences, we will share information regarding your child’s attendance and discuss how we as a school community can be most helpful in creating the conditions for your child to attend regularly and thrive in school. You might also receive a message via Parent Square regarding your child’s absences, excessive absences will require a meeting with school personnel.

CELEBRATIONS

We are dedicated to making sure every child has the support needed to attend school every day and succeed academically. We recognize and celebrate students’ attendance daily in our morning announcements. Mr. Paingankar announces the classes that have 100% attendance for that day. We also recognize 100% attendance during our monthly Lead by Example assembly. The class with the most 100% attendance days for the month will receive and Icecream coupon.

PARTNERING WITH COMMUNITIES

Millennium after-school provides a free after-school program at P.S. 236 for students in grades K-5 to help families who work and have no other options.

SCHOOL CALENDAR

To view a calendar of the school’s events, go to: Parent Square or visit the 2024-25 School Year Calendar Page to get a quick view of important dates in the upcoming 2024-25 school year.

CONTACT INFORMATION

We hope this information is helpful to you! If you have questions about our attendance plan, please contact Joni Southard, Assistant Principal, (718) 444-6969 or jsoutha@schools.nyc.gov.