Attendance Policy and Plan School Year 2025-26

22K278

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 22K278.

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 

Attendance is taken daily using the NYC DOE GAMA system during Period 1 class. Instruction starts promptly at 8:00 AM. Students arriving at school after 8:00 A.M will be marked late. Make sure that your child has the highest attendance possible by keeping him or her out of class for only serious illness, medical appointments and other legally accepted reasons. Every child should strive for 90% or better attendance. For more information about attendance in NYC Schools : Attendance 

*8th Grade Dance - On the day of the dance, students must be present in school for at least one period to attend the dance.

ATTENDANCE DEFINITIONS 

Present 

• (In Person) Students attend (is physically present in the classroom/school learning environment) at least one full instructional period during the school day. 

• (When Remote) Students attend (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. 

• ( When 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 the following methods to communicate with families about attendance:

Every day a student is absent we will make a ROBO  phone call home to notify the parent/guardian. Each month an email will be sent for students who are chronically absent or at risk of being chronically absent. 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. Attendance information/updates will also be communicated in our monthly Parent Newsletter.

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 contacting our office staff at 718-375-3523 or Melissa Barr, Parent Coordinator at mbarr7@schools.nyc.gov.

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 phone at 718-375-3523 or via email to our Parent Coordinator, Melissa Barr at mbarr7@schools.nyc.gov.

If your child is absent, you will receive a ROBO call to alert you. After 3 days you will receive a call from your child’s teacher/guidance team.  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, problems accessing       technology or getting online during a snow emergency day, family emergency, religious observation, pre-arranged appointments.

• Unexcused Absence:   An example of  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:

In the event of absences or lateness, please contact the school via phone at 718-375-3523 or via email to our Parent Coordinator, Melissa Barr at mbarr7@schools.nyc.gov , and our Attendance staff, Mary McCaffrey at mmccaffrey6@schools.nyc.gov 

Just as with absences, we mark 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, problems with accessing technology or getting online, 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 their morning meeting by 9:15 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 going to leave early on a certain day, please notify the school by  please contact the school via phone at 718-375-3523 or via email to our Parent Coordinator, Melissa Barr at mbarr7@schools.nyc.gov.

• 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 student must come to the office and provide a photo ID. 

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/full period exams), dialogs, speeches, group work, lab 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 syllabus, they will receive credit for the course. If a student needs extra support, please email Ms. Barr at mbarr7@schools.nyc.gov for more information about our after-school academic intervention programs.  

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

Getting back into the habit of daily attendance matters more than ever as we recover from the pandemic. Going back to school is an opportunity for your student to:

Build routines that help reduce stress,
Connect to their friends and teachers,
Engage in learning, participate in class,
Did you know that 80% – 89% attendance is considered chronically absent? 90% or higher is the desired rate. Let  us work together to try and improve that.

Every day a student is absent we will make a ROBO  phone call home to notify the parent/guardian. Each month an email will be sent for students who are chronically absent or at risk of being chronically absent. 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. Attendance information/updates will also be communicated in our monthly Parent Newsletter.