Attendance Policy
Douglas MacArthur Kindergarten Academy Attendance Policy
Good attendance is essential if students are to achieve success and reach their potential. The State of Indiana places education at the top of its priorities. The faculty, staff, and administration believe the following about the importance of regular attendance at Douglas MacArthur Kindergarten Academy/Elementary School:
1. Regular school attendance is a valuable characteristic to help develop responsibility in students.
2. Legitimate reasons do exist for students to miss school but should be rare.
3. When a student is not in attendance, school does go on and the student falls behind.
4. It is legitimate and proper for the school to set limits on absences from school. Teachers are encouraged to incorporate participation grades into their classes that include attendance. This helps hold students accountable for attending school.
5. Tardiness to school and/or missing part of a school day negatively affects student performance. This will be recorded and will accumulate toward a student’s absence limits. Coming to school 10 minutes late or leaving 10 minutes early from class every day adds up to 60 hours of missed instruction, which is like missing almost 2 weeks of school.
6. Parents should keep in mind that we only have 1,260 hours of instruction in a school year. A child that misses 10 days of school is missing 70 of these critical hours. It is difficult to get back lost days of instruction. This can potentially cause a student to fall behind.
Attendance Procedures for Parents and Students
All student absences need to be reported to the school office by parents or guardians by 12:00 P.M. on the day of the absence in order to state the nature of the absence. Absences will be EXCUSED if the school is notified before 12:00 p.m. and the nature of the absence qualifies as an excused absence as listed below. If the parent or guardian does not contact the school that day or calls after 12:00 p.m., it will be considered an UNEXCUSED absence. If the parent does not call, the school will contact the parent that day through our automated system. Communication with the school for absences is important to ensure that students are not truant from school. Truancy is being absent from school without the knowledge or consent of the parent/guardian and school officials. If no phone is available at the home, a letter from the parent or guardian stating a lack of phone may be filed with the school principal. Those students may then be excused with a note on the day following the student absence.
Excused Absences
A student will be allowed a maximum of TEN (10) parent/guardian excused absences per year. Personal illness that is excused by a written note from a physician will not be counted toward the ten (10) parent/guardian excused absences. After the maximum of ten (10) parent/guardian excused absences, all following absences that year will be counted as unexcused without documentation. Students with excessive absences may not attend other building incentives in order to complete work they miss. The following circumstances are considered excused absences:
● illness verified by a note from the parent (up to 10 a school year)
● illness verified by a note from a physician
● recovery from accident (verified by a physician’s statement)
● required court attendance (verified by court documentation)
● professional appointments – Parents are encouraged to schedule medical, dental, legal, and other necessary appointments other than during school hours. When appointments are necessary during the school day, the student shall report back to school immediately after the appointment with a signed statement from the doctor, dentist, lawyer, counselor, etc.
● death in the immediate family
● observation or celebration of a bona fide religious holiday
● college visitation (verified by documentation from college)
● military connected families’ absences related to deployment and return
● such other good cause as may be acceptable to the Superintendent or permitted by law
Unexcused Absences
● Any absence without proper documentation after the maximum of ten (10) parent/guardian excused absences per year.
● Vacations during school time are unexcused. Parents/guardians are advised to plan family activities when school is not in session.
● Truancy
● Any absence not reported to the school office by parent/guardians by 12:00 p.m. on the day of the absence
● Absences due to missing the bus, oversleeping, alarm clock malfunctions, car trouble, etc. that cause the student to arrive at school after 10 a.m.
● Other reasons not noted as excused
Tardies
The school day begins at 9:10 a.m. and students are expected to be in their classrooms at this time. Any student entering the building after 9:20 a.m. and up until 10:00 a.m. will be considered TARDY. The parent/guardian must sign the student in at the office when they arrive after 9:10 a.m. Students who arrive between 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. will be considered to have a ½ day absence. Students with excessive tardies may not attend other building incentives in order to complete work they miss.
Excessive Absences
● A maximum of ten (10) days will be excused per year by the parent/guardian. After that, all days will be unexcused unless appropriate documentation is provided within 2 days of the student’s return to school.
● Beginning on the fourth (4) consecutive day of parent notification of absence, a medical note will be required within two (2) days of the student’s return to school for absences to be considered excused.
● All absences will be excused when medical documentation is given within 2 days of return to school.
● Parents will be notified by letter and an attendance conference will be held after 5 or more unexcused absences per 9 weeks. An Attendance Intervention Plan will be implemented at that meeting.
● After the tenth (10th) unexcused absence, students and families will receive a certified letter from the Department of Student Services detailing the next steps and potential consequences.
Makeup Work
Students may make up academic work missed in class due to an absence. It is the student’s responsibility to make up for missed work. As a rule, the absent student will have the same number of days to make up missed work as the length of the absence. During out of school suspensions, students are still expected to complete any homework assignments missed during their suspension. In order to receive credit, assignments must be turned in within a reasonable amount of time as communicated by the teacher. Suspended students will also be permitted to make up tests, quizzes, and major projects. The student will initiate the need to make up the homework, test, quiz, and/or major project. In most cases, the test, quiz, and/or major project will be made up the day the student returns. If an eLearning day is called on the day of a student’s suspension, that will not count as one of the student’s suspended days. The next day we are in school will count as their suspension day.
Attendance for Extra-Curricular Activities
Students must be in attendance on the day of an extracurricular activity. If the student goes home ill from school, he/she is ineligible to attend or participate in any events scheduled that day. Students are not permitted to be on school property or attend any school related activities during the days that they are serving an out of school suspension.
*Students with ongoing medical diagnoses that may require consistent outside appointments may be excused after consultation with administration and documentation from a medical professional. Please contact the front office for further information.