March 2006
Dear Parent/Guardian:
The purpose of this letter is to inform you about the newly revised student attendance policy approved by the Eldred Central
School District Board of Education on March 9, 2006.
The major change in the policy involves making up work for unexcused absences. In the previous version of the
attendance policy, students with unexcused absences were given a grade of 0% for made up work. In the new policy, students
who have unexcused absences can receive up to 80% credit for made up work as long as they follow the criteria outlined in
the policy.
This revised policy is the result of months of hard work on the part of the Board of Education, administration, staff and
parents. This revised policy is student-centered and offers opportunities that were not previously in effect.
I thank all of the stakeholders who struggled to make this policy become a reality.
The goal of this new policy is not to be punitive, but rather, to get students to attend school on a regular basis,
per Education Law. This policy will seek to foster better family relationships by working with families to improve school
attendance. Please take a moment to review the newly revised attendance policy below.
Educationally yours,
Ivan J. Katz, Ed.D
Superintendent
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5100
STUDENT ATTENDANCE
Revised March 9, 2006
The Eldred Central School Board of Education recognizes that regular school attendance is a major component of academic
success. Through implementation of this policy, the Board expects to reduce the current level of Absences, Tardiness,
and Early Departures (referred to in this policy as “ATEDs”), encourage full attendance by all students, and maintain
an adequate attendance record-keeping system which identifies patterns of student ATEDs and develops effective intervention
strategies to improve school attendance.
Notice
To be successful in this endeavor, it is imperative that all members of the school community are aware of this policy,
its purpose, procedures and the consequences of non-compliance. To ensure that students, parents, teachers and administrators
are notified of and understand this policy; the following procedures shall be implemented.
• The attendance policy will be included in student handbooks and will be reviewed with students at the start
of the school year.
• Parents will receive a plain language summary of this policy by mail at the start of the school year.
Parents will be asked to sign and return a statement indicating that they have read and understand the policy.
• When a student is absent, tardy, or leaves early from class or school without excuse, designated staff member(s)
will notify the student’s parent(s) by phone and/or mail of the specific ATED, remind them of the attendance policy,
and review ATED intervention procedures with them.
• A back-to-school event will be held at the beginning of each school year (at the 7th grade Orientation, high
school and elementary open houses and grade level presentations given by the building principals) to explain this policy and
to stress parental responsibility for ensuring positive student attendance.
• School newsletters, publications, handbooks, mailings and the school district website (www.eldredschools.org) will include this policy to ensure that parents and students are aware of the implications of these attendance requirements.
• The district will provide a copy of the attendance policy and any amendments thereto to faculty and staff.
New staff will receive a copy upon their employment.
• All faculty and staff will meet with a building principal at the beginning of each school year to review the
attendance policy to clarify individual roles in its implementation.
• Copies of this policy will also be made available to any community member, upon request.
Truancy (Unexcused Absence from School)
Since a good pattern of school attendance is directly related to a successful school experience, it is absolutely necessary
that excessive truancy in school districts be eliminated. For this reason, effective September 1, 2005, the Sullivan
County District Attorney’s Office hereby establishes a program in conjunction with the school districts of Sullivan
County designed to combat truancy.
The mission of this program is to identify parents/guardians of truant students who, for reasons within their control,
grossly fail to show proper and prudent interest in their children’s school attendance. The program seeks to strengthen
diligence and awareness to the point that these parents/guardians take a more active role in their children’s education.
Whenever possible, this program seeks to identify problems within families and help solve them on a non-criminal
basis. The program will operate within the official policy of the Eldred Central School District, with the final stage
of that policy being an intervention by the Office of the Sullivan County District Attorney.
The intervention will seek to foster better family relationships by working with families of excessively truant students
to diminish truancy. The program, to be run in the Eldred Central School District via the administration, support services
(child study teams, social workers and guidance departments) and available resources from outside agencies, will help parents
to set appropriate limits for their children when needed.
Throughout the course of the intervention, the family will sign several contracts, agreeing that parents/guardians
will cooperate with their children to solve truancy problems. The District Attorney’s Office is confident that this
intervention will result in better attendance patterns while providing a non-criminal solution to family problems of students
in Sullivan County.
STUDENT TRUANCY PREVENTION PROGRAM SEQUENCE
5 Unexcused Absences: Letter #1
A first stage letter will be generated by the building principal.
PINS Referral at 7 Unexcused Absences
At 7 absences, the principal will begin the PINS (Persons In Need of Supervision) referral process with the Sullivan
Count Probation Department.
10 Unexcused Absences: Letter # 2 - Meeting
Notification to parents or guardian to meet with school officials via registered letter or personal service.
This meeting will be memorialized in a letter and sent to parents by registered letter or personal service.
This letter
requests that the parent meet with the building principal to resolve the attendance issues. This letter is forwarded
to the District Attorney’s office for potential intervention.
15 Unexcused Absences: Letter #3 and DA Letter
Two letters will be sent at this stage, one by the superintendent of schools, and one by the District Attorney of Sullivan
County. If the parent fails to work with the school to resolve the attendance issues, the District Attorney will be
asked to intervene.
Unexcused Absences beyond 15: Meeting w/DA
(Written Agreement and Referral)
The District Attorney will meet with the parent regarding a school attendance
review agreement.
School follow-up (Contract cc: DA)
Possible Prosecution
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Excused and Unexcused Absences
Excused ATEDs are defined as absences, tardiness, and early departures from class or school due to personal illness,
illness or death in the family, impassable roads or weather, religious observance, quarantine, required court appearances,
attendance at health clinics, approved college visits, approved cooperative work programs, military obligations, or such other
reasons as may be approved.
All other ATEDs are considered unexcused absences.
All ATEDs must be accounted for. It is the parent’s responsibility to notify the school office within
at least 24 hours of the ATED and to provide justification for the ATED in writing.
General Procedures/Data Collection
• Attendance will be taken during each class period.
• At the conclusion of each class period (for grades 7-12) or school day (for grades K-6), all attendance information
shall be compiled and provided to the Building Principal or Building Principal’s Designee.
• The nature of an ATED shall be coded on a student’s record. The Eldred Junior-Senior High School’s
Coding System is as follows:
CODE DEFINITION
AH Absent With/without a note (no valid reason) –UNEXCUSED
AS Absent
due to sickness or Doctor appointment (with a note) EXCUSED
TR Truant – UNEXCUSED
T Tardy
(no note) -UNEXCUSED
T/N Tardy With Note (sickness) – EXCUSED
T/W/N Tardy
With Note (overslept) – UNEXCUSED
A/DIF Absent Due to Death in the Family – EXCUSED
EE Excused
Early (Doctor’s Appointment) - EXCUSED
FT Field Trip – EXCUSED
ISE In-School
Suspension – EXCUSED
OSS Out of School Suspension – EXCUSED
WR Work
Release - EXCUSED
• Student ATED data shall be available to and should be reviewed by the principal or the principal’s designee
in an expeditious manner.
• Where additional information is received that requires corrections to be made to a student’s attendance
records, such correction will be made immediately. Notice of such a change will be sent to appropriate school personnel
subject to applicable confidentiality rules.
• Attendance data will be analyzed periodically to identify patterns or trends in student absences.
• Where consistent with other school practices, teachers and staff shall detain students in the hallways that
are absent from a class period without excuse and refer the students to the Building Principal.
• Continuous monitoring at the junior-senior high school by the attendance office, the guidance department,
and the Student Study Team (the SST is a committee that meets weekly to monitor student achievement) will be conducted to
identify students who are frequently absent, tardy, or leave class or school early. At the elementary school, attendance
will be monitored by the principal, social worker, CSE Chairman and the CST (Child Study Team).
Attendance Incentives
The district will design and implement systems to acknowledge a student’s efforts to maintain or improve school
attendance. For example:
An attendance honor roll shall be maintained and published each marking period identifying those students with perfect
attendance as well as those students whose attendance has improved significantly, subject to parental consent and applicable
confidentiality rules.
PRINCIPAL’S AWARD FOR PERFECT ATTENDANCE
Students who have attained perfect attendance for each marking period will receive special award recognition from the principal.
Students who continue to receive perfect attendance throughout their school careers will be recognized and awarded.
Disciplinary Consequences
Unexcused ATEDs will result in disciplinary action consistent with the Eldred Central School District Code of Conduct.
In addition, staff member(s) will contact the student’s parents and the student’s guidance counselor. Such
staff member(s) shall remind parents of the attendance policy, explain the ramifications of unexcused ATEDs, stress the importance
of class attendance and discuss appropriate intervention strategies to correct the situation.
Student Drivers who are late to school
This is in addition to the detentions and suspensions that are already in place for lates to school.
6
lates to school - Driving privileges suspended for 1 week
12 lates to school - Driving privileges suspended
for 4 weeks
16 lates to school - Driving privileges suspended for the remainder of the school year
Cutting Class
Students will receive zeros for the classes that they cut. The consequences of cutting class range
from referral by the classroom teacher, to In-School Education, to Out-of-School Suspension, to the PINS referral process,
to a Superintendent's Hearing in extreme cases. Students who cut a class on any given day may be subject to dismissal
from extra-curricular/co-curricular events for that day and potentially beyond, depending on the level of the infraction.
Lates to Class
Students are considered to be late to class once the bell rings.
3 lates to class =
1 hour detention
6 lates to class = 2 hours detention
9 lates to class = 4 hours detention
12
lates to class = 1 day of ISE
15-->or more may include parent contacts, suspensions, and the PINS referral
process
Students who are more than 10 minutes late to class will be considered absent from class (this absence may be made
up at the teacher's discretion).
Students who come to class late will remain in the class and will be marked late
Attendance Review Board
An attendance review board (made up of the CSE Chairman, a classroom teacher, both school guidance counselors, the
school-to-work coordinator, and the school nurse) will be in place to conduct parent/student meetings for students at risk
of receiving diminished course grades or class failure due to attendance issues. The review board will convene on an
as needed basis to review building-wide attendance and to make recommendations to the district’s principals for interventions.
Attendance/Grade Policy
The Eldred Central School Board of Education recognizes an important relationship between class attendance and student
performance. Consequently, attendance patterns may have a direct bearing on student achievement.
Students are expected to attend all scheduled classes.
A student’s grade is based solely on his or her fulfilling the academic requirements of the courses
he or she takes. Course credit shall not be withheld for students’ non-attendance in school or in class.
Students who miss a class where that absence is deemed EXCUSED must make-up the work for a particular
class to receive credit. Students who have EXCUSED absences will be graded with no loss of credit (100%). Students with
EXCUSED absences may make up their work at home or in Homework Hall.
Students who miss a class where that absence is deemed UNEXCUSED must make-up that particular class in Homework
Hall to receive partial credit (80%). 80% partial credit means that 20% will be subtracted from a child’s grade.
So, if a child scores 100% on an assignment, they will receive 80% of that grade. The following is the criteria for
making up work due to an UNEXCUSED absence:
1) All work must begin being made up after school upon the student’s return to school. In grades
K-6, work will be made up with the student’s teacher or designee after school. At the junior-senior high school,
work will be made up after school in Homework Hall.
2) It is the parent’s responsibility to notify the school office within 48 hours of ANY kind of absence
(excused or unexcused) and to provide a reason for the absence in writing. In other words, if a child returns to school
on Monday, the school would need to have the written excuse by the end of the day on Tuesday. All absences are considered
unexcused until the school receives the written note from the parent. If the student returns to school without a written
excuse signed by a parent or legal guardian, the student may make-up the work after school but it will be considered UNEXCUSED
until the note has been received by the school. It is very important for absence notes to be brought in right away.
Parents are urged to submit notes right away so that a child’s absence can be appropriately classified as excused or
unexcused. The principal has the discretion to accept a written excuse after the 48 hour period if there are circumstances
that warrant such consideration.
3) Teachers are not required to give work in advance of the absence(s) because the absences can only be made
up after school upon a student’s return. However, certain kinds of assignments that are long term in nature can
be given to students (i.e. reading assignments, long-term projects, etc.)
4) If a student misses a day of school, the student must begin making up the work after school immediately upon
returning to school. If the student has not reported after school to make up the work the student will receive zeroes
for the day missed. Students who attend Homework Hall at the elementary school or the junior-senior high school will be provided
transportation home via a late bus.
Students in grades K-6 must stay after school one hour per school absence to make-up work. Students in
grades 7-12 must stay after school for two hours per school absence to make-up work. As follows:
Day(s) Absent Make-up work After School
1 day
missed = 1 after school session to make up
2
days missed = 2 after school sessions to make up
3 days missed
= 3 after school sessions to make up
4-? days missed = 4-? After school sessions
to make up
Students in grades K-12 may attend Homework Hall/or stay with a teacher after school as often as they
like following their made up absence (as long as it has been pre-arranged with the teacher or the Homework Hall). If a student
has turned in an assignment but feels that he or she needs more help, that student may continue to go to Homework Hall as
often as the student or parent would like.
The Homework Hall requirement for students who have UNEXCUSED absences is a minimum requirement.
Finished assignments will be collected by the Homework Hall teacher and will be forwarded to the classroom teacher. Students
who have not finished an assignment they were working on in Homework Hall may finish the assignment at home as long as the
assignment is submitted to the teacher the next morning.
Students who have been absent for more than one day must make up their work per the above schedule
(i.e. 2 days missed equals 2 after school sessions to make up). Students attending the Homework Hall to make up work
will be given one day’s work. So, if a student has 5 UNEXCUSED absences, on their first make up day, they will
receive the work from the first missed day. On the second make up day they will receive the work for the second missed
day, etc. The principal has the discretion to consider alternatives to this make up work schedule based upon unforeseen
circumstances that warrant such consideration.
In implementing the policy set forth above, students who are unable to attend school or a class on a given day
due to their participation in a school-sponsored activity (i.e., music lessons, field trips), may arrange with their teachers
to make up any work missed. This also applies to any student who is absent, tardy or leaves early from school or a class
due to illness or any other excused reason.
All students with an excused ATED are expected upon their return to school to arrange a work make up schedule with
their teacher(s) for missed class assignments. Make up opportunities must be completed by a date specified by the student’s
teacher for the class in question.
Annual Review
The Board shall annually review building-level student attendance records and, if such records show a decline in
student attendance, the Board shall revise this comprehensive attendance policy and make any revisions to the plan it deems
necessary to improve student attendance.
Ref: Education Law §§1709; 3024; 3025; 3202; 3205-3213; 3225 8 NYCRR §§104.1; 175.6
Adoption date: March 14, 2002
Revised: August
26, 2002
Revised: February 10, 2005
Revised:
March 9, 2006
