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Attendance

Attendance Equals Success

Encouraging regular school attendance is one of the most powerful ways you can prepare your child for success. It is also important that students arrive at school on time. Arriving late not only deprives a child of valuable instruction, but it disrupts the learning of the other students in the classroom. Please do not schedule any activities or events (trips, doctor’s visits, etc.) involving your child during the school day.

Tardy Policy:

Classes start promptly at 8:00 AM. All students arriving after 8:00 AM will be considered tardy. There is no grace period. All students that arrive at 8:06 AM or later must report to the office to pick up a tardy pass before going to class. Students are considered truant after 30 minutes. Arriving late to school due to a medical, dental or similar appointment should be verified by a note from the doctor’s or dentist’s office.

Absences:

If your child is absent, call the office by 8:30 AM the same day to report your child’s absence. If you are unable to call, you can send an email to the school staff or a note upon your child’s return to school. 
Please Note: You have ten days from the date of the absence to justify your child’s absence. Without a note, email, or phone call, all absences will be considered unexcused and marked as cuts. If you receive an automated call stating that your child is absent when you know that they are not, please inform the office right away. Errors while taking attendance do happen and must be corrected. Also, anytime your child has a medical appointment, always ask the medical office to give you a letter verifying said appointment. These letters will justify your child’s absence when submitted to the office.

Excused Absences are limited to the following reasons: California ED CODE 48205

  • Due to a student’s own illness.
  • Due to quarantine under the direction of a county or city health officer.
  • Due to a student’s own medical, dental, optometric, or chiropractic appointment.
  • Attendance at a funeral of a member of his or her immediate family and limited to 1 day within California or 3 days if out of California.
  • Observance of a holiday or ceremony of his or her religion.
  • For another justifiable reason:
    • The student’s absence must be requested in writing by the parent/guardian and approved by the principal.

Medical Absences:

If your child is ill, please keep them home to recuperate and to reduce the chance of infecting others. Your child should stay home if they have a fever, diarrhea, or have been vomiting, as well as if they have a cold or cough that has excessive phlegm or mucus. All students can return once their symptoms subside and if they’ve been fever-free for 24 hours without having taken fever-reducing medicine.

Please call the office to report your child’s illness and absence. Please note that after 14 medical days, a health meeting will be held; all absences relating to illness after this will be considered unexcused and parents will be asked to provide a doctor’s note.

Extended Absences:

While extended absences during the school year are discouraged, there may be times when they are unavoidable. If your child will not be able to attend school due to an emergency, illness, or vacation, Independent Study may be used on a short-term basis to ensure that the student maintains academic progress. Short-Term Independent Study may be requested by the parent for absences up to 15 school days. Visit the Santa Rosa City Schools website for more information on Short-Term Independent Study. 

Releasing Children From School:

When picking up your child early, always go to the office to sign them out. Anyone picking up your child must be on their Emergency Card. To ensure the safety of your child, we will not release any child for pick-up without identification and verification.

Please Note: Excessive early pick-ups or pick-ups that have the student missing more than 30 minutes of class time will be considered unexcused. If leaving early due to a medical, dental, or similar appointment, turn in a medical note verifying that to the office.

Truancy:

Any absences not covered by the Excused Absences list and for which the school did not receive a notification about (cuts) are considered unexcused absences. Tardies past 30 minutes and early pick-ups where students miss more than 30 minutes of school time are also considered unexcused. After 3 unexcused attendance marks, a Truancy letter will be sent home. Additional unexcused absences, tardies, and pick-ups will prompt a second Truancy letter and a SART conference. Continued truancy can lead to further consequences, including a referral to the District Attorney’s office.