1.     When can I log attendance?

We request that parents log attendance daily starting with OHVA’s first official day of school until the last day of school. (See academic calendar)

2.     Can my student record attendance?  

Recording attendance is the adult Learning Coach’s responsibility and at no time should students be recording attendance in the school system.  Students may help to keep a written record to assist the Learning Coach, but students should not have access to the adult online school account.   

3.     What constitutes earned attendance hours?

Attendance hours are hours spent completing lessons within the K12 online school, studying or practicing previously learned material, preparing for upcoming lessons and assessments, taking assessments, completing homework assignments or projects online or offline, taking part in Class Connects or additional grade level requirements such as state testing.  There should be a direct correlation between attendance time and lessons or coursework completed.  Attendance hours may also include school F2F events. 

4.     Do teachers monitor my child’s attendance? 

Both teachers and advisors will monitor and verify your student’s attendance.  They may perform periodic attendance check-ins or audits to verify that attendance hours entered in the system are valid and correspond to lesson/assignment completion.  

5.     What are supplemental hours?

Ohio Virtual Academy recognizes that families routinely offer many valuable learning activities to their children, in addition to their K12 course work.   Students are required to complete their core courses before supplemental hours are permissible.  Supplemental course work may be recorded in any subject appearing on the student’s OLS attendance screen. Based on the student’s grade level, a child may receive attendance credit for up to 12 hours of supplemental course work per week. Physical education attendance may range from 36 hours to 72 hours, which is prorated based on enrollment.  Parents should keep a log of supplemental and/or offline hours in addition to recording it in the Online School.  Verification of offline work may be requested for students. For specific grade level guidelines, please consult your teacher or advisor.   

6.     Where do I need to log my child’s attendance and how often?

Learning Coaches should log (record) student attendance hours in the OLS/OMHS, or via the K12 app, and should be entered on the day the work was completed. Select the courses for the lesson completed, enter all online time as well as any supplemental/offline time, and click “Save” to enter the attendance time.

7.     Why should I log attendance on a daily basis?

Ohio law requires attendance for all students between the ages of 6 and 18.  OHVA defines student attendance as the time a student has spent logging into classes and completing coursework or working within supplemental resources. This also serves as a formal record of the student’s daily academic engagement and accumulated attendance and progress for the school year.

8.     How much attendance may I log each day?

You may log the online and offline work hours, up to 10 hours per day, per state law.

9.  Do I need a doctor’s excuse if my child is sick or misses school? 

In general you do not need to provide a doctor’s note if your child misses a day of school. Please notify your student’s advisor if your student is ill. Your student will need to make up any missed work and attendance time when they are feeling better.  Written physician’s statements may be required to verify extended or repeated illness.

10. When do absences become a concern for truancy?  

When a student reaches 30 consecutive missing hours or misses 42 cumulative hours in a month they are considered truant per Ohio attendance laws. At this point OHVA will notify you of your student being habitually truant. At this point your student would be eligible to be put on an Absence Intervention Plan (AIP) and supported by our Absence Intervention Team (AIT) which consists of your Advisor and an Attendance Compliancy Officer. Continued absences of 72 consecutive missing hours will result in a withdrawal from OHVA consistent with Ohio law. Per Board Policy, students who are withdrawn from OHVA due to truancy cannot re-enroll for a period of two full school years, unless otherwise required by law.

11.     What should I do if I forgot to log my child’s supplemental hours?

You may go back and add hours at any time. If you have already entered subject hours for that day, and you click the “Submit” button, your teacher or advisor may need to add the hours for you. Contact your teacher/advisor and they will guide you in entering supplemental hours. We recommend Learning Coaches keep a written log or record of supplemental and offline school work time. 

12.  How many hours should my child log if they enrolled after the first day of school?

Hours are calculated from the student’s individual school start date. Contact your teacher or advisor to know the exact hours you need to log.

13.  Should I record attendance time for orientation?  

You may record orientation time if this occurred after school has officially begun.  A limit of 10 hours in the Welcome to Online Learning course may be logged.  

14.  My student participates in College Credit Plus (CCP).  Should I record time spent learning in those college courses?  

Yes, record the time your student attends college classes and time spent completing college coursework. 

15.  Can more than 920 hours be logged?

920 hours is the minimum attendance required by the State.  Any hours above 920 are counted toward the current school year only. We recommend that students spend more than the state minimum requirement to ensure academic growth.  

More Supplemental Hours Information

See the section on Truancy for additional attendance information.