Attendance & Absences
Attendance
We want your child to succeed. Regular attendance is crucial to student success in school. Parents play a major role in this area by ensuring that their child regularly attends school and arrives at school on time each day ready to learn. Excessive absences may drastically affect student performance. Tardiness disrupts the entire class and causes your child to miss out on instruction.
Tardiness
Tardiness (lateness) disrupts the educational process. Instruction begins promptly at 8:00am. A tardy student disrupts the class and misses out on valuable instruction. A student is tardy at 8:01am. Students who are tardy must report to the school office in order to receive a pass to admit them to class. When a student is tardy five (5) times in one calendar month, the school will send a letter to the parent/guardian. When a student is tardy seven (7) times in one month, the student will be placed on attendance probation and a parent conference will be held. At this conference, the student, the parent(s), the student’s teacher and the principal will sign an attendance contract. The contract will outline the consequences of the absences to date and the terms by which the student can be removed from attendance probation. The consequences of additional absences will be determined at the discretion of the principal, but may include loss of privileges and/or mandatory parent attendance at school with their child during the school day.
Absences
Parents/guardians are responsible for calling the school before 9:00am each day that their child is absent. If we do not receive a call, a member of the school staff will make a reasonable attempt to contact the parent/guardian by phone. When the student returns to school, the parent or guardian must send a signed note giving the date and reason for the absence. All attendance records are placed in students’ permanent file.
Valid Causes for Absence
- Personal illness
- Observance of a religious holiday
- Death in the immediate family
- Family emergency
- Circumstances that cause reasonable concern to the parent/guardian for the safety or health of the student.
Extended Absences
Extended absences are generally considered to be those lasting more than three days. If the length of the absence is known in advance, the parent/guardian should notify the school of this on the first day of reporting the absence.
Students who are absent due to a family vacation should not expect to receive homework assignments in advance. Parents/guardians are strongly discouraged from planning family vacations during the school year. Adequate time for vacations is allowed during Winter Break, Spring Break, and Summer Break.
Sporadic Unexcused Absences
Students who are absent six (6) or more days per quarter, eleven (11) or more days per semester and twenty (20) or more days per school year are considered to be excessively absent. In each of these situations, the student will be placed on attendance probation and a parent conference will be held. At this conference, the student, the parent(s), the student’s teacher, and the principal will sign an attendance contract. The contract will outline the consequences of the absences to date and the terms by which the student can be removed from attendance probation. The consequences of additional absences will be determined at the discretion of the principal, but may include loss of privileges and/or mandatory parent attendance at school with their child during the school day. Excessive absences may result in the student being retained.
Consecutive Unexcused Absences
After five (5) consecutive unexcused absences, the school will call numbers on file for that student in an attempt to remedy the situation. A registered letter will be sent to the student’s address of record. This same procedure will be repeated after ten (10) consecutive absences. After eighteen (18) consecutive absences, the school will notify the Chicago Public Schools truancy office. The student is then at risk from being dropped from the schools’ records.
Early Pick-up of Students
The only acceptable reasons for picking up a student early are family emergency, student illness or injury, or if the student creates a situation where he is a danger to himself or others. Parents are urged to schedule medical, dental and other appointments outside the school day. If a student is picked up early for any reason other than those detailed above, it will be counted as an unexcused absence for the remainder of the day. Parents should notify the school in advance if they must pick up a student early. Children who must leave school early are dismissed from the main office only. There will be no early student pick-up after 3:00pm on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday; and no early dismissal after 12:30pm on Tuesdays.
Return to School
All students MUST present a written excuse after any absence. The written excuse should state the student’s name, date(s) of absence, and the reason for the absence. If a child is absent due to illness for three (3) or more days in a row, a physician’s note listing the illness, the recommendation to remain home, and the date on which the student is allowed to return to school must be submitted to the student’s teacher when the child returns to school.
Make Up Work and Tests
Students are responsible for all of their assignments even when they are absent. They will be allowed to complete all assignments and tests missed during an excused absence. Full credit will be given for work assigned by the teacher while the student is absent if completed within a reasonable amount of time after returning to school. This is generally the number of days absent plus one day. Teachers will provide reasonable assistance to the student until s/he is caught up.
If the absence is for any other reason than those listed above, it is an unexcused absence and teachers are not required to provide special assistance, although students must still complete the assignments within a reasonable amount of time.