Attendance & Tardy Policy

Attendance

Students need to be present and engaged in order to learn. Encouraging regular school attendance is one of the most powerful ways parents/care givers can prepare their child for success—both in school and in life. When you make school attendance a priority, you help your child get better grades, develop healthy life habits, avoid dangerous behavior and have a better chance of graduating from high school. Attending school regularly is important to ensuring children develop a strong foundation for subsequent learning. During the early elementary years, children are gaining basic social and academic skills critical to ongoing academic success.

When students are absent for fewer days, their grades and reading skills often improve—even among those students who are struggling in school. Students who attend school regularly also feel more connected to their community, develop important social skills and friendships, and are significantly more likely to graduate from high school, setting them up for a strong future. Education Code 48200 requires that children attend school full time on a regular basis. Excused absences are limited to illness, doctor/dentist appointments, court appearances, and death of an immediate member of the family. All other absences are recorded as “unexcused”. If your child is absent from school, please call our school office at (909) 397-4587 to report the reason for the absence.

Tardy Policy

Students arriving late to school due to a medical or dental appointment must have a doctor’s note in order for the tardy to be considered excused. Punctuality, especially as it relates to school attendance, is a responsibility of the parent and a critical factor in the instructional program of a school. Tardy students result in continuous disruption of classroom instruction. There is also the concern for safety since children arriving late are not supervised outside on the campus.

Early Release from School

For safety reasons, students may not leave school at any time during the school day without permission. Whenever possible, please schedule doctor and dental appointments after school. If students need to leave school during the school day, they need to be signed out from the office by a parent/guardian and signed in upon their return to school. We ask that parents wishing to take children from the school site during school hours arrange for this through the office. The office cannot call a student out of class until the parent/guardian is present as students cannot miss instruction to wait in the office. No student will be released to persons not authorized on the student’s Emergency Contact Form without parent/guardian permission. Please keep this in mind when deciding whom to include on the Emergency Contacts.

Take Action to Help Eliminate Chronic Absenteeism

Parents and Families Should:

1. Make getting to school on time everyday a high priority in your family.

2. Talk with your child about the importance of school attendance from an early age and the negative effects of too many absences.

3. When necessary, create a safe space for your child to share what’s keeping them from participating in school on a regular basis.

4. Have a back-up plan for getting your child to school when there are difficulties with transportation, family illness, or other challenges.

5. Schedule doctor and other appointments for after-school hours whenever possible.

6. Monitor students’ school attendance to make sure your child is in class every day.

Did You Know?

• Chronic absenteeism means missing 10% or more of school days in a year.

• 5 to 7.5 million students are chronically absent each year.

• Students who are chronically absent are less likely to succeed academically and more likely to drop out of school.

• Attending school everyday increases a child’s chances of success in school and in life.