Towanda Jr/Sr High School

TOWANDA JR.SR. HIGH SCHOOL ATTENDANCE POLICIES AND PRACTICES

Attendance in school is required by the State of Pennsylvania. Parents will be contacted each day if a student is absent via Parent Square message.

Any student who is absent will be subject to the following:

• Any student absent on the day of an event or activity may not participate in that activity unless approved by the administration.

• A student who has been absent from school will, upon his or her return to school, present a written excuse to the main office. This excuse must be signed by the parent or guardian and must state the date and cause of the absence. Failure to produce an excuse within three days may cause the absence to become illegal or unlawful.

If a student’s absence is unexcused, his or her parents will be contacted by letter. After the third unexcused absence letter, a School Attendance Improvement Plan (SAIP) meeting will be held. If such absences continue, truancy charges may be filed in either the magistrate’s office or county court.

Students and parents are reminded that regular class attendance is necessary for a student to achieve credit for a course since class activities and student participation make up a substantial portion of the student’s grade. Excessive absence will most certainly lead to low school achievement.

Please realize that once the letter about unexcused absences has been received, only a doctor’s note or other form of legal documentation can change the status of the absence.

Once the SAIP meeting has been scheduled, any physician or legal notes will need to be presented to the district magistrate or county court when truancy charges are filed by the school.

ABSENCES

Students must attend 5 ½ hours of school to be considered a full day. A student must attend 4 hours of school to be considered a half day. This may be waived for medical reasons with the permission of the Principal or Assistant Principal

Unlawful/Unexcused Absences: The parent of a student having more than three (3) days of unlawful absences is liable for prosecution. Attendance improvement plan meetings may be held to discuss options and coordinate efforts and resources to assist in improved attendance.

Students who accumulate 10 or more days of absence will receive a letter and may be required to present a doctor’s excuse for each successive absence.

Teachers have the option of not allowing missed work to be made up from an unexcused absence or class cut.

Students 18 years of age and over will be allowed ten (10) consecutive days of unexcused absences before the student may be removed from the school rolls.

Unlawful/Unexcused absences are absences due to reasons OTHER than one of the following:

•          Death in the Family

•          Family Emergency

•          Illness

•          Weather conditions

•          A family trip that receives prior approval.

•          Doctor and dental appointments

•             Counseling

TAKE YOUR CHILD TO WORK DAY

This event will not be counted as an absence if the student gets prior approval. One day per year is designated nationally for this endeavor. Check with your employer for details.

“Take Your Child to Work Day” forms are available in the office. If the student’s pre-approved request is granted, no absence is recorded on the report card, similar to a field trip. If no pre-approval is requested the excuse is recorded on the report card as “excused” if a written excuse is received within 3 days. If no excuse is received within 3 days, the absence is recorded as “unexcused.” If the day falls on a state testing day, students will be unable to participate in “take your child to work day.”

CLASS-WIDE “SKIP” DAYS

If administration suspects that a day has been designated as a class-wide skip day, parents may be called and/or a doctor’s excuse may be required when the student returns, for the excuse to be legal and for it to not be considered a day of cutting school. Any student participating in the skip day will not be permitted to participate in extracurricular events on that day.

EXCUSED/UNEXCUSED LATENESS

Morning attendance will be taken in the student’s homeroom. Students are expected to be in homeroom by 8:00am. Students arriving to homeroom after 8:00am will be considered tardy. A student who is late arriving to school after 8:00am must stop at the main office and sign in. Late students will arrive in the main office and use their lunch number to sign in late with the sign in system. It will print an admission slip which will be used to admit the student to class. All unexcused tardies after 5 will result in disciplinary action.

Chronic unexcused tardiness may cause the student to lose their driving to school and open campus privileges (select juniors and seniors). Chronic tardiness is considered more than 5 tardies. Students can also face referral to the local agencies and/or magistrate for attendance violations for tardies.

DISMISSAL DUE TO ILLNESS

Students will be released from school due to illness only by the health room professional. The health room professional will determine the need for a student to be dismissed from school. This applies to all students, no matter what their age. Students who sign out ill must do so through the health room professional. If they sign out on their own, it will be considered cutting class. For those few times the health room professional is not available,

The Principal or Assistant Principal will determine if a student should be dismissed for medical reasons. Parents will be contacted immediately so that they may provide transportation (permission to walk) home.

Students who do not sign out of school using the proper procedure will be subject to disciplinary action. If students use a personal phone without permission to call for pick-up, they will be disciplined under the code for failing to follow school rules or leaving school without permission.

PERMISSION TO LEAVE SCHOOL

Upon furnishing a written excuse from a parent or guardian that states the time and reason for the excuse, the student may be allowed to leave the building while school is in session. Students need to submit their excuse to the high school office by 8:15am. Excused appointments are as follows: doctor, dental, counseling appointments or funerals. To be excused, the following criteria must be met: Parent or guardian physically signs out the student or prior parental arrangements are made.

Appointment verification form must be filled out by personnel at the scheduled appointment and turned into the high school office the day following the appointment. Faxes will be accepted from doctor’s offices to the high school fax number: 570-268-2069. Failure to submit this form to the high school office within this time frame will result in the following:

• Dismissal will be unexcused.
• Notification to parent/guardian
• Consequences as outlined in the discipline code

EDUCATIONAL, FAMILY TRIP OR COLLEGE VISIT

All educational or family trips must have prior administrative approval, or the absence will be unexcused. The parent or guardian must request, in writing, for approval at least 5 school days before the actual trip. The same conditions apply to a student visiting a college. Students are expected to communicate with teachers prior to their trip to be sure their assignments will be in Schoology to access so as not to fall behind.

Students and parents need to be aware that family trips may affect the student’s attendance record under the current policy. Please realize the school reserves the right to grant these requested school days as unexcused in previous attendance or academic issues. In a situation where a trip may occur with short notice, please notify the office PRIOR to leaving for further direction. We recommend that families do not plan trips during state testing or during finals time. Students who are absent during finals due to a trip may need to take an alternate final to ensure the security of the final exam.

ATHLETIC AND EXTRACURRICULAR EVENT ATTENDANCE POLICY

To encourage greater commitment and create accountability and responsibility on the part of students, Towanda Jr. Sr. High School has implemented the following attendance policy for any student participating in athletics or in extracurricular events.

TOWANDA Jr. Sr. HIGH SCHOOL’S POLICY ON SCHOOL ATTENDANCE FOR ATHLETES AND EXTRACURRICULAR EVENTS/ACTIVITIES

All athletes and students who participate in any extracurricular event or activity must be in school by 9:30 am to be able to practice or participate in a game OR attend an extracurricular event or activity unless they are on an approved school field trip or have a valid doctor’s excuse. A student with an UNEXCUSED absence from school may not participate in any athletic practice or game or attend any event on that day, or if the game/extracurricular event takes place on a Saturday if the student was absent on the Friday before.

Students who miss class because of extracurricular contests or excused absences are expected to make up work as soon as possible. This may include after-school sessions. Participants and coaches should understand that practice is not an acceptable excuse for failing to complete make-up work or for failing to attend after-school help sessions.