Excused Absences
Pre-Approved, Pre-Planned Absences
When a student( K-12) has a planned absence for the day that a project is due, it is still the responsibility of the student and his / her parents to see that the project is submitted on time or early.( Extenuating circumstances should be presented to the building principal before the project is submitted late.) When a student is absent on the day of a test, the student will typically be expected to take the test on the day of his / her return, especially if the absence was a planned absence.
When a middle / high school student is absent due to illness, s / he is responsible for connecting with his / her teacher( s) to obtain missed assignments. The student will be given the same number of extra days to complete missed work as the number of days absent.( For instance, two additional days will be given when a student is absent due to illness for two days.)
Excused Absences
An excused absence means that a student is permitted to complete missed assignments; it does not mean that the student’ s absence is not recorded as an absence. It still counts as an absence and is recorded on the permanent record as such, and will count towards a student’ s total allowed absences.( Alternatively, students with unexcused absences are not permitted to make up their missed work, will receive a zero for the day, and may also receive a zero for assignments or tests due the same day.) The following circumstances will qualify as excused absences: a. Personal illness b. Required quarantine c. Serious illness or death in the immediate family d. Emergency or medical attention e. Regular medical or dental visits; however, these times should be staggered to miss different classes and should be avoided during the school day whenever possible
Yearly check-ups with a doctor or dentist should be scheduled for before or after school hours if at all possible. All absences due to any reason not listed above must be arranged in advance with the building principal and could possibly not be considered excused.
Pre-Approved, Pre-Planned Absences
Requests for pre-approved, planned absences must be submitted in writing to the student’ s building principal, giving the dates for the absence and the reason. This will allow the principal to inform the parent of the impact that the planned absences will have on the student’ s total number of absences, which may affect the ability to earn credit.
Because classroom attendance is an integral part of the student’ s course of study, parents are discouraged from taking vacations that take students out of school. All attendance regulations apply to absences due to vacations. When a planned absence is pre-approved and considered excused, the teacher will be notified by the administration ahead of time to assign in advance any related worksheets, exercises, readings, outlines, etc. to be completed and submitted to the teacher upon the student’ s return( or it will be considered late and will be graded accordingly). Students or parents should check with the teacher about all make-up tests and any assignments that were not able to be pre-assigned. This approach is designed to prevent students from falling behind in their schoolwork.
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