A flier should be coming home with your children this week sharing the highlights of the new attendance policy with you.  Attending school daily is important for the success of your children.  We understand that they may miss school due to unexpected illness or other circumstances, but we hope that you help your children come to school each day they are well.

To assist parents, we are allowing 6 parent notes for absent events AND 6 parent notes for tardy events.  We wanted to do this so if your child wakes up not feeling well but gets better after a small amount of time, you would have the availability of a tardy parent note instead of just keeping your child home all day.  You can also schedule appointments late in the day so students can attend school most of the day and leave early for an appointment.  Missing a small amount of time is better than missing the entire day.

We have always asked that you submit parent notes within 5 days upon return from an absence, but this year the notes will not be accepted outside of this time frame without approval of the DPP for extenuating circumstances.  Please don't rely on notes to be faxed from your doctors.  Parents should help make sure excuses get to the school.

Make-up work will be accepted regardless of whether the absence is excused or unexcused unless a child is suspended from school.  We feel it is important to try to learn the content and want children to make up work missed.

Students who miss 17 or more days in a school year, whether excused or unexcused, are considered chronically absent.  That is approximately 2 absences per month.  Please try to keep absences under this level.

The schools are providing some incentive to encourage your children to attend every day.  There is a definition of Perfect and Outstanding attendance in our new Code of Conduct which is found on the district webpage.  Even if your child has something come up and they can't obtain Perfect or Outstanding attendance, we hope you will encourage your child to attend daily.

Please help us help your child learn to their fullest potential by being present in school daily.

Thank you!