Attendance

Attendance: 619-605-2250 x3022

Daily Attendance Matters

Students are expected to attend school every day. Children who miss school miss out on opportunities to learn, build lasting friendships, and develop the skills and attitudes needed to become good citizens and valued employees. There is a clear connection between student attendance and student performance in school. This is especially true for English Learners in terms of their gains on the English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics portions of the California Standards Tests (CST).

Student absences also affect school budgets. Schools and school districts get a significant amount of their funding based upon the number of students who actually attend school each day. This is called Average Daily Attendance (ADA). Potential losses in ADA revenue affect all students because they can lead to budget cuts affecting a variety of programs, as well as inpidual schools. To learn more, visit the district's Calculating ADA page.

Student Attendance Laws

All children between 6 and 18 years of age are required by California's Education Code to attend school, and their parents have a legal responsibility to ensure their child's attendance. The law also states that a student's refusal to attend school regularly can result in referral to the community-based School Attendance Review Board (SARB) Juvenile Probation, or the Juvenile Court System. Additionally, parents who fail to compel their child's attendance may face criminal prosecution and penalties. 

How is funding related to attendance?

The school district only receives money from the state for the days that students attend school. Every day that your child misses school, even if for an excused reason, the school loses funding. If you are considering pulling your child out for a vacation, please be aware that this decision will negatively affect our school funding. Funding can be recouped by having your child attend Saturday School. If you take your child out of school for an enexcused absence we ask that as a courtesy you request a day of Saturday School to help the school make up for lost funds.

Attendance Procedures:

All absences must be verified by a parent or guardian through note, telephone call/email or in person. If a parent/guardian has not contacted the school within five days of the absence, the school will consider the student’s absence to be unverified and therefore possibly truant.

Doctor Appointments, Early Dismissal:

Parents must request a student’s early dismissal from the Attendance Office. A parent may call/send email or send a note in advance to request a blue slip, which will have the student ready to leave campus when the parent arrives. If parents do not call ahead it may take up to 20 minutes to get the student to the office, and possibly longer if they are in PE.

 

Planned Absence in Excess of 5 Days and up to 14

If your child will be absent from school at least 5 and no more than 14 days, please contact the school office at least 2 weeks in advance to make arrangements for a short-term Contract for Independent Study (CIS) for the absence period.  

  • May not have more than 10% absences in attendance and Academic Grades of 2.0 or above
  • All work must be dated within the contract and turned in nor later than 5 days after the student returns
  • If contract is not completed within the timeline, NO CREDIT will be given
  • Must have at least 5 teachers give full credit

NOTE:  A District issued computer must be used to access District Applications.

Without the contract,  the absence would be unexcused. Independent study contracts are not available for students receiving special education support.

Definition of Attendance Codes

I EXCUSED – “Illness” – absence due to personal illness or medical/dental appointments which are confirmed by a note, phone call, or email from the parent, guardian.
E EXCUSED – “Personal” – A “personal” excuse is given in cases of absence due to required court appearances, employment conferences, funerals, and other types of family necessity or emergency for which the pupil’s absence is requested by the parents.
U UNEXCUSED – Absence for reasons other than illness or personal/family necessity or emergency, even though excused by the parents. Examples are car trouble, traffic, oversleeping, Disneyland, etc.
Z TRUANCY – Absence for reasons which are neither acceptable to the school nor approved by the parents; or where evidence shows parents have misrepresented facts regarding the absence with intent to have it excused or have refused to cooperate in keeping the student in school as required by law.
S SUSPENDED – Absence from school resulting from serious or persistent behavior that poses a safety threat or ongoing disruption.

Tardies

Students must be in class and ready to learn when the bell rings.
Consequences for tardies in a single period:

  1. Teacher confers with student
  2. Verbal Warning
  3. Lunch Detention (5 or more tardies/period)

Consequences for overall total of school tardies per semester

  1. Refer to Counselor for intervention and possible parent conference
  2. Core Academy and loss of privileges
  3. Referral to District’s Student Attendance Review Board

Note: It is the responsibility of the parents and the student to monitor the number of tardies online. There will be no tardy notice prior to the CORE Academy permission slip.

Truancies

A truancy is defined as being out of school without your parent’s permission or out of class without the school’s permission (any adult staff may give direction to a student).
Consequences:

  • Lunch detention, after school detention, Core Academy, and/or loss of privilege.

CORE Academy

Supporting Student Achievement Success (CASSAS) - formerly Saturday School
CORE Academy provides students the opportunity to recover missed instructional minutes and days while receiving academic instruction and support. Core Academy classes are taught by certificated instructors and allow students, and schools, to recover lost attendance. Core Academy provides instruction for a minimum of four (4) hours. A nutritious meal will be offered by SDUSD's Food Services Department to all participating students during the instructional day.
Core Academy will meet from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm. A list of Saturdays will be published at the beginning of the year. Students assigned to Core Academy will be supervised at all times by certificated staff members. Core Academy may be assigned by an administrator, counselor or attendance clerk.

Rules and Regulations

  • Assignment to Core Academy will be made by an administrator, counselor or attendance clerk only. This assignment may be made for one or more Saturdays.
  • Students who are non-cooperative with the CORE Academy plan will be sent home immediately and will not receive credit for attendance.
  • Students assigned to CORE Academy must present, to the supervising teacher, a release signed by a parent if one has not been previously turned in to the CORE Academy coordinator. Otherwise, attendance will be denied.

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