ATTENDANCE
We believe that regular attendance in classes
is essential to the success of a student’s school
experience. One can really never make up or compensate
for absence from class. A work done to make up what
was missed during absence is primarily an effort to
bridge a gap in classroom experience. This is only
a substitute for classroom attendance, and it is acceptable
only under the conditions described below.
ABSENCES
Excused Absences
A. Advance notification from parents or a legal guardian
not required for the following absences:
(1) Illness or injury prohibiting
a child from coming to school.
(2) Student participation
in school-sponsored activities during the school day.
(3) Serious illness or death
in the student’s family.
B. Advance (24-hour minimum) written notification
from the parents or legal guardian is requested for
the following absences to be excused:
(1) Marriage in the immediate
family.
(2) Doctor or dental appointments
that cannot possibly be made outside school
hours. This refers specifically to orthodontist appointments
or treatment
for dental or other physical problems.
Unavoidable Absences
a). Business trips where both parents or legal guardians
are required to be outof town
and the children are too young or have no other place
to stay. Advance written notification
is required.
b). Help at home of an emergency nature will also
be given consideration.
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Other Absences
a). Educational trips must be genuinely educational.
Extended weekend vacations or other such trips will
normally not be considered excused. Great care will
be taken in excusing such trips, and in no case will
more than ten (10) school days be granted. In any
event, the principal must be consulted before the
trip, and he or she shall make the final decision
concerning the absence. The request must be made in
writing to the principal a minimum of four (4) days
in advance. Except in very unusual circumstances,
students will not be excused immediately preceding
or following a vacation date (i.e., Christmas vacation,
spring holidays, etc.)
b). Occasionally, special situations
may develop where a student may have an opportunity
to represent his church, a scout troop, a civic organization,
or some other group. Decisions to excuse special situation
absences or other appropriate requests will be made
after prior consultation with the principal by parents
and the student. Such things as the student’s
grades and the amount of school time already missed
will be considered in making a decision. Again, a
written request must be made in advance, and the principal
will make the final decision.
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Unexcused Absences
The following are examples of unexcused absences:
1. Any of the above
listed excused or unavoidable absences that were
not
requested in writing, and approved in advance.
2. Hairdresser appointments,
shopping excursions, automobile repairs, suspension
from school, travel, vacations, truancy, tardiness,
parent notes
without either any explanation or an excusable reason
(as
defined above).
Penalty for Unexcused Absences
a). Students will be required to make up
all missed work, including homework, tests, and/or
quizzes. Failure to make up the assignment within
the allotted time will result in an automatic zero.
b). If a student is absent from school immediately
prior to or following any school activity, that absence
may be interpreted as unexcused. This applies specifically
to any student who is absent in the morning following
participation in any activity the previous night,
or any student who is absent the afternoon (or day)
prior to attending an activity that evening.
Procedure for Reentering School
After an Absence
(Excused or Unexcused)
A signed note must be taken directly to the classroom
teacher, who in turn will send it to the school office.
The principal has the final authority to excuse an
absence.
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Make-Up of Missed Work
a). It will be necessary for missed work,
including tests, to be made up before or after school.
Sometimes a student who has been approved for an absence
wishes to take a test or turn in homework before the
absence. This matter is left to the discretion of
the teacher. If a test is already available, it is
advantageous to both the student and the teacher for
the student to take the test early rather than late.
b). It is the student’s responsibility to schedule
a time for make-up work. All work missed must be made
up within the same number of days the student was
absent.
c). If the homework or test was assigned prior to
the absence, the student is responsible for the homework
or test upon returning to school.
Loss of Credit for the Year Due to Absences
a). For a student to receive credit in any
class, total semester absences may not exceed ten
(10) days, and yearly absences may not exceed twenty
(20) days.
b). Whether the absences are excused or unexcused
does not change the credit ruling. Exceptions may
be granted under unusual circumstances after parental
consultation with the principal.
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Signing Students Out of School
a). Students may be signed out only under
the following conditions:
(1) Their absence would fall
under one of those defined as excuses in the Student
Handbook.
(2) If the reason is illness,
the student must:
a.
have a fever as determined by the school nurse.
b.
be obviously ill, as determined by the best judgment
of the school officials.
c)
establish phone contact between the school and parent
or legal guardian,
and have a member of the office staff verify permission
for the
student to leave campus. Students must wait in the
area designated
by the school for a parent or legal guardian to arrive.
b). Detailed records for students will be kept in
the office regarding signing in and out of school.
Students showing an excessive number of sign-outs
or sign-ins will have the situation reviewed in a
conference between parents or legal guardian, student,
and principal. More than six (6) sign-outs will be
regarded as excessive, and the student must be withdrawn.
c). Students may not leave campus during the school
day without telephone contact with, or personal appearance
of, the parents or legal guardian. Notes from home
requesting that a student be dismissed at a particular
time will not be accepted without proper telephone
or personal contact from the parents or legal guardian.
Students are to be released only to the student’s
parent(s) or legal guardian, except in extreme cases
where the principal has made an exception.
d). Upon checking either later that day or on the
following day, a written note from home must accompany
the student as outlined above in the “Procedure
for Reentering School After an Absence.”
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