NIGUEL HILLS MIDDLE

ATTENDANCE PROCEDURES

Regular attendance plays an important role in student achievement, so it is our desire that students attend classes regularly and have a successful year. An average absence rate of more than one day per month is considered excessive. To avoid having students marked truant please review the following attendance procedures.

 

ABSENCES: 

Please call the 24 hour attendance line at (949) 234-5392 or email tamarr@capousd.org  the same day as the absence or within 72 hours.

When calling the message line, please speak slowly and provide the following information:

 

 If you have any questions, please call Terry Marr at (949)234-5360 or email at tamarr@capousd.org

 

When a student has had 14 absences in the school year for illness or equivalent of period absences any further absence for illness shall be verified by a physician with appropriate dates the physician is clearing.  If not verified by a physician the absence will be considered unexcused.

 

If your child becomes ill at school, he/she is to request permission from his or her teacher to report to the office.  If the child is too ill to continue his/her day at school, the health office will call the parent or guardian to pick up the child.  UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES is a child to call his/her parents/guardians to pick him/her up and leave the premises without being signed out from the school office.

 

All students must report to the Attendance Office if they are late to school. Students who arrive late to class create a disruption to the classroom regardless of the reason the student is late. If a student is late due to a medical/dental appointment, it is recommended to bring an excuse from the Medical/Dental Provider.

 

 Students who are on campus but miss their assigned class without permission from school staff are considered truant.  If a student is more than 30 minutes late, the student is truant.  Also, those students who leave campus, stay home without permission from a parent/guardian, or have an absence that remains unexcused after 72 hours, will be recorded as truant.  Any absence that is not cleared by the office within 72 hours (Ed. Code) will become truancy and disciplinary action may be taken by the Assistant Principal. The school suggests the following: check Parent Portal (especially on sub days) to verify roll and respond immediately when uncleared absence emails/phone calls are sent from the school.

 

A total of three days of unexcused absences or truancies or nine period absences over 3 days can trigger the School Attendance Review Board (SARB) process and may receive disciplinary actions at school for truancy.  Parents will be sent a letter notifying them that their child is habitually absent/ truant.  Additional unexcused absences/truancies will prompt a mandatory meeting with the District Attorney’s office and potential prosecution.

 

 LEAVING SCHOOL EARLY: 

If your student needs to be signed out early, please send your student with a note stating the time and reason they need to be released. Tell your student to go to the office before school begins to receive a “special excuse” slip to hand to the appropriate teacher.  This will let the teacher know the time and reason the student needs to meet you in the office. While you are waiting for the student, please bring your I.D and sign out the student at the front desk. Your child may not leave campus in the custody of anyone other than a parent, guardian or person authorized on the emergency card. 

 

 

If a student is marked absent in error, the student needs to report it to their teacher and the teacher will notify the attendance office. The attendance office cannot change period absences without teacher verification.

 

 It is our desire to maintain a learning environment that is uninterrupted; therefore, the attendance office does not deliver forgotten items to students.  Nor does the office send call slips to tell the student about forgotten items.  Students are responsible for bringing everything with them at the start of the day. This includes homework, study materials, instruments, uniforms, phones, and lunches. All dropped off items will be labeled with the students name and the message board will be posted with the students name as well. Students are aware of looking for their name on the message board for any forgotten items that may have been dropped off.  We appreciate your understanding that instructional time should not be interrupted.

 

INDEPENDENT STUDY AGREEMENT:
 
If it is necessary for parents to keep their children out of school for up to 15 days (minimum of 1 day) to travel or attend some special event, the District requests that an independent study agreement be set up between the child and the teacher.
 
The agreement provides children with lessons and activities to complete while away from school and helps to ensure that the students do not fall behind in their studies. The study agreement is given to the child and should be returned to the classroom teacher upon completion.  Parents should notify the office at least ten school days prior to the first day of a child’s unavoidable absence from school for reasons other than illnesses.