Statement of Overall Objectives

1. to increase school completion for all students;
2. to raise student achievement and close gaps in student performance;
3. to identify attendance patterns in order to design attendance improvement efforts;
4. to know the whereabouts of every student for safety and other reasons;
5. to verify that individual students are complying with education laws relating to compulsory attendance;
6. to determine the district's average daily attendance for state aid purposes.

A. Description of Strategies to Meet Objectives

1. 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.
2. Develop and maintain this Policy based upon the recommendations of a multifaceted district policy development team that may include representation from the Board of Education, administrators, teachers, students, parents/guardians and the community. The district will hold at least one public hearing prior to the revision of this Policy.
3. Maintain accurate recordkeeping via a Register of Attendance to record attendance, absence, tardiness or early departure of each student.
4. Utilize data analysis systems for tracking individual student attendance and individual and group trends in student attendance problems.
5. Develop early intervention strategies to improve school attendance for all students.

B. Definitions and Determinations

1. Scheduled instruction: Every period that a pupil is scheduled to attend instructional or supervised study activities during the course of a school day during the school year.
2. Absent: For middle school/high school students the pupil misses 20 minutes or more of the pupil’s scheduled instruction. The teachers’ attendance register shall be the official record.
3. Tardy: The pupil arrives later than the starting time of the pupil’s scheduled instruction.
   • Early departure: The pupil leaves prior to the end of the pupil’s scheduled instruction.
   • Excused: Any absence, tardiness or early departure for which the pupil has a valid school approved excuse. Such excused non-appearance shall include: personal illness, illness or death in the family, religious observance, quarantine, required court appearances, attendance at health clinics or other medical visits, field trips, approved college visits, military obligations, absences approved in advance by the principal, school field trips or outings, suspensions, school sporting events and other reasons as may be approved by the Board of Education and/or Commissioner of Education.
   • Unexcused: Any absence, tardiness or early departure for which the pupil has no valid school approved excuse. Such unexcused non-appearance shall include shopping trips to the local mall, family vacation, oversleeping, skipping class, hunting, babysitting, haircuts, obtaining a learner’s permit, road test, boy/girl scouting events and any other absence that is not excused.

Student Attendance Recordkeeping/Data Collection

1. For students in non-departmentalized kindergarten through grade 5 (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 shall be recorded after the taking of attendance once per school day.
2. For students in grades 6 through 12 each student's presence or absence shall 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 shall be taken in accordance with paragraph "a" above.
3. Any absence for a school day or portion thereof shall be recorded as excused or unexcused in accordance with the standards articulated in this Policy.
4. In the event that a student at any instructional level from grades K through 12 arrives late for or departs early from scheduled instruction, such tardiness or early departure shall be recorded as excused or unexcused in accordance with the standards articulated in this Policy. A record shall 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.

Student Attendance/Course Credit

1. physically present in the classroom or working under the direction of the classroom teacher during the class scheduled meeting time and misses less than 20 minutes of class whether through tardiness or early departure unless accounted for by an authorized person; or
2. working pursuant to an approved independent study program; or
3. receiving approved alternative instruction.

Notice of Minimum Attendance Standard/Intervention Strategies Prior to the Denial of Course Credit

1. Copies of the district's Comprehensive Student Attendance Policy will be provided to parents/guardians and distributed to students at the beginning of each school year or at the time of enrollment in the district.
2. School newsletters and publications will include periodic reminders of the components of the district's Comprehensive Student Attendance Policy. Copies of the Attendance Policy will also be included in parent/guardian/student handbooks.
3. At periodic intervals a designated staff member(s) will notify by telephone and/or email the parent/guardian of the student's absence, tardiness or early departure and explain the relationship of the student's attendance to his/her ability to receive course credit. If the parent/guardian cannot be reached by telephone, a letter shall be sent detailing this information.
4. A designated staff member will review the district's Attendance Policy with students who have excessive and/or unexcused absences, tardiness or early departures. The principal will work with student prior to decision.

Notice

• A designated staff member shall notify by telephone the parent/guardian to a student who is absent, tardy or departs early without proper excuse. The staff member shall explain the Policy, the district's/building level 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. Further, the Policy will be mailed to the parent/guardian to promote awareness and help ensure compliance.
• If deemed necessary by appropriate school officials or if requested by the parent/guardian, a school conference shall 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.
• Notwithstanding the above, when the student reaches the seven (7), fourteen (14), and twenty-one (21) absences for a full year course or the prorated number for other classes, the parents/guardians will be sent a written notification warning about the potential effect of absences on the loss of credit. If the student exceeds the limit, the parents/guardians will again be sent a written notification. The parents/guardians may review the dates with the teacher and the principal.

Attendance Incentives

• Classroom acknowledgment of the importance of good attendance (e.g., individual certificates, recognition chart, bulletin boards);
• Annual poster/essay contest on importance of good attendance;
• Assemblies collaboratively developed and promoted by student council, administration, PTA/PTO and other community groups to promote good attendance.

Disciplinary Consequences

Intervention Strategy Process

1. identify specific element(s) 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 element. 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 element; and
4. recommend intervention to Superintendent or his/her designee if it relates to change in district policy or procedure.

1. utilize appropriate district and/or community resources to address and help remediate student unexcused absences, tardiness or early departures; and
2. monitor and report short and long term effects of intervention.

Appeal Process

Building Review of Attendance Records

Annual Review by the Board of Education

Community Awareness

1. providing a plain language summary of the Policy to parents/guardians and to students at the beginning of each school year and promoting the understanding of such a 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 the Policy; and
3. providing copies of the Policy to any other member of the community upon request.