ATTENDANCE PROCEDURES

TAKING ELECTRONIC ATTENDANCE 

It is important to take attendance during the first 15 minutes of class time.  This allows the office to continue with attendance in the most efficient way for the remainder of the day.  Should a student come tardy to your class without a Readmit from the Attendance Office, please change the student’s attendance from “absent” to “tardy” in the Classroom Attendance Atom.  If that is not possible to do when the student arrives, please send an email to the Attendance Assistant (Marsha Peterson) as soon as you can and the information will be corrected.  An email is the most efficient way to notify the office, but you may also call and leave a message for Marsha Peterson at extension 4098.

Off Campus Passes

An Off Campus Pass allows a student to leave the classroom for appointments.  The student will bring a yellow copy of the Pass to the classroom or they are delivered to the classroom by a Teacher Assistant.  Please make sure the student receives the Pass as soon as possible.  Please do not keep the yellow Pass for your records; it is for the student.  It is used for attendance information should they return to campus during the school day. 

When a student receives an Off Campus Pass from Attendance, the student is instructed to show you the Pass as they come into the classroom with the time of departure on the Pass and to leave the classroom at the appointed time to come to the Attendance Office.  The student must be checked out through the Attendance Office, even if he/she has an Off Campus Pass.  Students must check back into the Attendance Office upon returning to school.   

Readmits 

A Readmit is used when a student is tardy to class whether coming to school late or returning from an appointment.  If you know a student has been absent during the day and then comes to your class later in the day without a Readmit, please send the student to the Attendance Office for a Readmit.  This will eliminate attendance “mysteries” at the end of the day.

Weekly Attendance Report

The State requires that the weekly report is given to teachers on Monday morning and returned to Attendance by Monday afternoon with your signature and any changes noted. 

The Report is in your box Friday afternoon to give you as much opportunity as possible to check for absences or tardies that are different from your attendance.  Sign it and put it in the tray on the table in the mail box room.  Please be prompt in returning it or letting Gina (extension 4097) know that you are working on it. 

Teachers who take the time to check over the weekly report and make notations on the report to clear up discrepancies find that attendance issues are resolved quicker and with greater efficiency.  This usually means that the office does not need to send emails to you to clear absences and tardies later on in the month.

Keep in mind that it is easier to take care of attendance issues close to the time of occurrence.

Truancy  

This year the District has made a change in the way that we can count a student truant.  We will only be allowed to count a student truant if the student is truant the entire school day (for the purpose of sending letters to the District leading to SART and SARB meetings). 

In the past, we could count a student who was truant for part of the day.  Students who are truant for partial days need to be referred to the Counselor or Assistant Principal for further action.

Truancy letters will be sent after the third, sixth, and ninth full days of truancy.

Excessive Excused Absences

Students who are absent from school for 12, 16 or 20 days without a valid doctor’s note will be sent letters from the Attendance Office.  This is the same as last year. 

Because you have contact with students and parents in a different way than the Attendance Office does, please notify us of any family/life situations that would be helpful regarding excessive student attendance.  There are instances where we do not send letters because of home/life situations.   

Because of the SART process that has been put in place the past couple of years, our District has had fewer cases going to SARB than in years past. 

Tardies 

Please make sure that you mark students tardy if they come late to your class and do not have a Readmit from the Attendance Office. 

We will run a report throughout the month that will pick up all of the tardies for a student whether it is from a teacher or Attendance.  Then we can administer detentions as they are due. 

Please note the information on the table below: 

OCIS Contracts

OCIS (off campus independent study) contracts are for a minimum of 5 consecutive days and must be requested by either the student or a parent at least 5 school days in advance from Linda Rehberg at the reception desk. The work assigned must be equivalent in quantity and content to that of the regular classroom. Teachers earn a portion of the ADA for each completed contract.  For special ed students:  “To engage in OCIS study, a student with special needs who has an IEP may do so only to the extent that his/her IEP specifies Independent Study as the instructional modality.”   

CHALLENGE 

The District Attendance Office has issued a challenge to each school in Poway Unified to increase our attendance percentage by one percent.  This will only happen if we all work together.  If you have any ideas or thoughts that you can lend to increase student attendance, please let Vickie Bakki or Marsha Peterson know.