7110 - Attendance

Policy: Attendance	Policy Number: 7110
Date of Original Policy: 07/10/2002	Date Revision Adopted: 10/14/2020
Reviewed by Policy Committee: 09/17/2020	Date of Next Review: 09/17/2023
Replacement of Policy Number:

Attendance is a critical factor for student success in school. Consistent school attendance, improved academic performance and school completion have a positive correlation. Therefore, it is the policy of the Jordan-Elbridge Central School District to promote a sound attendance policy, which, in turn, will lead to the development of skills, habits, understanding and knowledge for the success of all of our students.
 
The Jordan-Elbridge attendance policy will allow school administrators and district personnel to:
   
Notice

When a student is absent, tardy, or leaves early from class or school without excuse, designated staff member(s) will notify the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s).

The District’s attendance policy is included in the Code of Conduct distributed to students each year.

Record Keeping
 
A record shall be kept of each scheduled day of instruction during which the school is closed all or part of the day because of extraordinary circumstances including adverse weather conditions, impairment of heating facilities, insufficiency of water supply, shortage of fuel, destruction or damage of a school building, or such other cause as may be found satisfactory to the Commissioner of Education.
 
Attendance records shall also indicate the date when a student withdraws from enrollment or is dropped from enrollment in accordance with Education Law Section 3202(1-a)
 
The attendance clerk/nurse will keep accurate attendance in each school building. In the elementary school buildings, the clerk/nurse will take attendance once in the morning and will record the attendance electronically through the BOCES Regional Information Center (RIC). In the middle school and high school, the clerk/nurse will report attendance electronically through the RIC at BOCES once in the morning.
 
Each classroom teacher will take attendance for each of her/his classes at the beginning of each period throughout the day and record it electronically. The safety of our students is our number one concern. Any teacher who does not take attendance at the onset of each period will be counseled /disciplined according to the provisions in the JETA contract and Section 3012 of Education Law. Students absent from class will be reported electronically to the clerk/nurse who will attempt to notify building administration who will attempt to verify the whereabouts of the absent student(s).  If a student is not located prior to attendance being taken in the subsequent class, the parent/guardian will be notified.

The clerk/nurse will distribute a second updated absentee list to the teachers and administrators in the afternoon. In all buildings, the school will phone the home of the absent students as soon as possible to notify the parent/guardian that the student is not in school and to ascertain from the parent/guardian the reason for the absence.
 
The principal(s) and/or his/her designee(s) will review student attendance daily. On a quarterly and yearly basis, she/he will review school wide attendance practices and make recommendations to the Superintendent for revision of the attendance policy as needed, at the end of the year.

Attendance Codes for Recording Absences
 
For the purpose of identifying the reasons for absences, the following codes will be used. These codes are abbreviations used in reporting absences electronically through the BOCES RIC.
 
Table Lookup for Absence Codes
 
D    Early dismissal (w/parental note)
H    House Suspension
U    Illegal; no parental note
A    Legal, e.g. sickness (w/parental contact)
R    Truant
S    Suspended (No Tutor)
T    Tardy
X    Educational event (e.g. fieldtrip)
Y    Suspended (w/tutor)
V    Unexcused Tardy
M    Medical (tutored)
 
Excused/Unexcused Absences
 
The Board of Education, administration and staff believe that students must be in attendance in all of their classes to reap the full benefit of the education offered at Jordan-Elbridge Central Schools and to be successful in completing the courses of study. Therefore, only the following absences will be considered as excused from regular instruction for the purpose of granting credit toward course completion.
 
1.    In-school or out of school suspension assigned by the principal provided the student meets with the tutor as assigned.  If a student is assigned a tutor, e.g. due to out of school suspension, and fails to meet with the tutor for the minimum amount of tutoring time, the student will be considered illegally absent.
2.    Home tutoring.
3.    Attendance at a field trip. Note:  The student is required to meet with the teachers and make up the work missed in all of her/his classes to have the absences excused.
4.    Band and chorus lessons – same as #3 above.
5.    Attendance at any other school program, building or function assigned by the staff or administration as a requirement for a legitimate school function.
6.    A medical excuse from a doctor excusing the student from physical education only.

Absences will carry over from a previously attended school to a school at Jordan-Elbridge and will become a part of the student’s permanent record. Absences will also carry over from one class to another should a student change classes during the period of a school year.
 
Attendance and Course Credit
 
A student must be in attendance 60% of the time to be able to sit for the local final exam.  For a full year course, if a student exceeds 72 absences, the student will not be allowed to take the local final examination. In a half-year course, if a student exceeds 36 absences, the student will not be allowed to take the local final exam.

Students who are absent from class due to their participation in a school sponsored activity are to arrange with their teachers to make up any work missed in a timely manner as determined by the student’s teacher. Attendance at school sponsored events where instruction is substantially equivalent to the instruction which was missed shall be counted as the equivalent of regular attendance in class.
 
For purpose of being able to complete a course and take the final examination, excused absences may be counted toward completion of the course if:
 
1.      The student meets with the teacher to review the lesson missed, and/or audits the same lesson taught in a different section;
2.       Makes up work missed during the absence in a timely manner, based on individual requirements of the course.
 
Description of Notification to Parents
 
Parents will be notified periodically of numbers of absences as they may affect the student’s chances of passing the course or completing the grade.  In addition, tardies and absences will be reported on each report card at the four ten-week periods at all grade levels.

Sanctions

Unexcused absences, tardiness and early departures will result in disciplinary sanctions as described in the District’s Code of Conduct. If students choose not to comply with compulsory attendance laws and are excessively tardy, absent or truant, sanctions must be in place to improve attendance patterns of such students. Sanctions include, but are not limited to:
 
•    Phone calls to parent/guardian;
•    Conferences with parent/guardian;
•    Discipline referral which may result in detention, in-school suspension;
•    Superintendent’s hearing;
•    PINS Petition (Person in need of Supervision) to involve the probation department and/or court for students under the compulsory attendance age.

Description of Developmental Process for Intervention Strategies
 
The following process for intervention may be applied in cases where students are chronically absent:

1.    Attendance clerk/nurse informs guidance counselor and/or the principal who requests parent conference.    
2.    Discipline referral sent to office.
3.    If chronic unexcused absences persist, the school social worker will be sent for a home visit that will make an assessment and report back to the principal.
4.    A PINS petition may be filed with the County Probation Department for chronic truancy and/or chronic unexcused absences.
5.    If a student is absent for twenty consecutive days and is beyond the compulsory attendance age, a letter will be sent to the parent/guardian requesting a conference. If the parent/guardian does not attend the conference and does not get the student to school, the student will be dropped from attendance at the high school, per New York State Education Law 3202.1-A.
 
Review of Attendance Records
 
The principal of each school building will review the attendance records of students who show a pattern of excessive absences with the attendance clerk/nurse every ten weeks.

At the end of each school year, the building principal will review the attendance procedures for the year and render an assessment to the Superintendent for modification of the attendance policy or procedures if warranted. The Superintendent will make recommendations to the Board of Education for revision of the attendance policy deemed necessary to improve student attendance.

Ref:    Education Law §§1709; 3024; 3025; 3202; 3205-3213; 3225
    8 NYCRR §§104.1; 175.6
    Social Service Law §34-a