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I.  Statement of Overall Objectives

The Comprehensive Student Attendance Policy is intended to meet the following objectives:

a. To increase school completion for all students;

b. To raise student achievement and close gaps in student performance;

c.  To identify attendance patterns in order to design attendance improvement efforts;

d. To know the whereabouts of every student for safety and other reasons;

e.  To verify that individual students are complying with education laws relating to compulsory attendance;

f.  To determine the District’s average daily attendance for state aid purposes.

II.  Description of the Specific Strategies to Accomplish These Objectives

a. Create and maintain a positive school building culture by fostering a positive physical and psychological environment where the presence of strong adult role models encourages respectful and nurturing interactions between adults and students. This positive school culture is aimed at encouraging a high level of student bonding to the school, which in turn should lead to increased attendance.

b. Maintain accurate record keeping via a Register of Attendance to record attendance, absence, tardiness, or early departure of each student.

c. Utilize data analysis systems for tracking individual student attendance and individual and group trends in student attendance problems.

d. Develop early intervention strategies to improve school attendance for all students.

III. A Description of Which Student Absences, Tardiness, and Early Departures will be Excused

A student who is not physically present in the school building during their scheduled in-person instructional day will be marked absent. The absence will be classified in accordance with the criteria set forth below:

A. Excused

The following reasons for student absences from schools are recognized as valid by the Board:

1. illness,

2. death in the family,

3. impassable road or weather, making travel unsafe,

4. religious observance,

5. school-sponsored trips (a school-sponsored trip will not exceed two school days),

6. official Department of Health or District quarantine, 

7. required court appearances and/or meetings with governmental agencies, 

8. absence for important educational reasons (i.e., college visitations, armed services testing),

9. absence due to a motor vehicle road test,

10. technology failure during remote learning (i.e. broken device or internet outage).

The Principal will have the discretion to designate an absence, late arrival, or early departure as “excused,” if the cause of the absence is not among those enumerated above, upon determining that the absence was unavoidable and/or otherwise not the fault of the student or the student’s parent(s)/legal guardian(s). 

B. Unexcused

An absence, tardiness, or early departure is considered unexcused if the reason for lack of attendance does not fall into the above categories.

C. Absent/Exempt

Absent/Exempt is an absence for a field trip, school-sponsored trip, internship, visit to school nurse, school counselor, school psychologist, or school social worker, or other authorized school activity.

IV. Make-Up Opportunities

Students who have an excused absence will be given reasonable time to make up assignments missed during their absence. When necessary and applicable, assignments may be sent home and teachers will be available to render necessary assistance. Students whose misconduct is directly related to the student's academic performance (e.g., plagiarism) may be denied the opportunity to make up work.

It is the student's responsibility to request all make-up assignments from subject teachers following absence from class. The student must request assignments early enough to allow adequate time for completion prior to the end of the marking quarter. Make-up opportunities must be completed by a date specified by the student’s teacher for the class in question.

V.  Student Attendance Record Keeping/Data Collection

The record of each student’s presence, absence, tardiness, and early departure will be kept in a register of attendance in a manner consistent with Commissioner’s Regulations. An absence, tardiness, or early departure will be entered as “excused” or “unexcused” along with the District code for the reason.

Students learning in the fully remote model as well as those in hybrid model on their remote days will need to show daily school participation, which is to be recorded by teachers and reported under the provisions of this policy. Such participation will vary depending on the type of remote learning taking place. This can include:  documented participation in online or virtual classes, completion of assignments, documentation of daily school activities and learning, or correspondence via online platform, email, and telephone. Teachers are also expected to pay particular attention to the educational progress of students learning remotely and notify the Principal, who may initiate appropriate interventions with the student and their family, if a student does not show adequate engagement or growth.

a. For students in non-departmentalized kindergarten through grade eight (i.e., self-contained classrooms and supervised group movement to

other scheduled school activities such as physical education in the gym, assembly, etc.), such student’s presence or absence will be recorded

after the taking of attendance once per school day, provided that students are not dismissed from school grounds during a lunch period.  

b. For students in grades nine through twelve or in departmentalized schools at any grade level (i.e., students pass individually to different

classes throughout the day), each student’s presence or absence will be recorded after the taking of attendance in each period of scheduled

instruction except that where students do not change classrooms for each period of scheduled instruction, attendance will be taken in

accordance with paragraph “a” above.

c. Any absence for a school day or portion thereof will be recorded as excused or unexcused in accordance with the standards articulated in this

policy.

d. In the event that a student at any instructional level, from kindergarten through grade twelve, arrives late for or departs early from scheduled

instruction, such tardiness or early departure will be recorded as excused or unexcused in accordance with the standards articulated in this

policy.

A record will be kept of each scheduled day of instruction during which the school is closed for all or part of the day because of extraordinary circumstances including adverse weather conditions, impairment of heating facilities, insufficiency of water supply, shortage of fuel, destruction of or damage to a school building, or such other cause as may be found satisfactory to the Commissioner of Education.

Attendance records will also indicate the date when a student withdraws from enrollment or is dropped from enrollment in accordance with Education Law Section 3202(1-a).

At the conclusion of each class period or school day, all attendance information will be compiled and provided to the designated school personnel who are responsible for attendance. The nature of the absence, tardiness, or early departure will be coded on a student’s record in accordance with the established District/building procedures.

VI. Student Attendance and Course Credit

Specific sanctions regarding the relationships between student attendance and course credit will be determined during the school year.

VII. Description of Attendance Incentives and Disciplinary Sanctions

In order to encourage student attendance, the District will develop and implement grade-appropriate/building level strategies and programs.

In addition, in order to discourage student unexcused absences, tardiness, and early departure, the District will develop and implement grade-appropriate/building level sanctions.

VIII.  Description of the Notice to Be Provided to Parents

Notice of Students who are Absent, Tardy, or Depart Early without Proper Excuse or Who are Chronically Absent

A designated staff member will notify by telephone or email the parent/guardian to a student who is absent, tardy, or departs early without proper excuse, or who is chronically absent. A chronically absent student is defined as a student in grades 1-12 who is absent for any non-instructional related reason, for 10% or more of school days during the year. This only applies to students who are enrolled a minimum of 10 days. 

The staff member will explain the District’s Comprehensive Student Attendance Policy, the District’s/building level’s intervention procedures, and, if appropriate, the relationship between student attendance and course credit. If the parent/guardian cannot be reached by telephone, the staff member will provide such notification by mail, including by electronic means, with a link to the policy.  

If deemed necessary by appropriate school officials, or if requested by the parent/guardian, a school conference will be scheduled between the parent/guardian and appropriate staff members in order to address the student’s attendance. The student may also be requested to attend this conference in order to address appropriate intervention strategies that best meet the needs of the student.

IX. Specific Intervention Strategies

Intervention Strategy Process

In order to effectively intervene when an identified pattern of unexcused absences, tardiness, or early departures occur, designated District personnel will pursue the following:

1. Identify specific basis of the pattern (e.g., grade level, building, time frame, type of unexcused absences, tardiness, or early departures);

2. Contact the District staff most closely associated with the basis. In specific cases where the pattern involves an individual student, the student and parent/guardian will be contacted;

3. Discuss strategies to directly intervene with specific basis;

4. Recommend intervention to Superintendent or their designee if it relates to change in District policy or procedure;

5. Implement changes, as approved by appropriate administration;

6. Utilize appropriate District and/or community resources to address and help remediate student unexcused absences, tardiness, or early departures;

7. Monitor and report short- and long-term effects of intervention.

X. Building Attendance Records

The Principal will work in conjunction with the Attendance Office and other designated staff in reviewing attendance records at the end of each term. This review is conducted to identify individual and group attendance patterns and to initiate appropriate action to address the problem of unexcused absences, tardiness, and early departures.

XI. Annual Review by the Board of Education

The Board or designee will annually review building level student attendance and if a decline in student attendance is noted, the Board may make revisions to the policy if deemed necessary.

XII. Community Awareness

The District will promote necessary community awareness of this policy by:

1. Providing a copy of or electronic access to this policy to parents/guardians at the beginning of each school year and promoting the understanding of the policy to students and their parents/guardians;

2. Providing each teacher, at the beginning of the school year or upon employment, with a copy of or electronic access to the policy; and

3. Providing copies of or electronic access to the policy to any other member of the community upon request.

4. Providing access to this policy on the District website.

Cross Ref: 5460 Child Abuse, Maltreatment or Neglect in a Domestic Setting 

Education Law Sections 3025, 3025, 3202, 3205, 3206, 3210, 3211, and 3213

8 New York Code of Rules and Regulations

(NYCRR) Sections 104.1, 109.2 and 175.6

Revision date:    June 10, 2002

Amended date: November 19, 2018

Amended date: September 23, 2019

Amended date: August 31, 2020

Amended date: December 21, 2020

Amended date: August 28, 2023

Amended date: September 18, 2023

Amended date: January 8, 2024