Excused Absences
Students must bring in a note after each day they are absent to their homeroom teacher. The note must include the date absent, the reason for the absence, a phone number for the parent or guardian, and the parent or guardian’s signature. Students may make up work they missed during excused absences. Excused absences may include:
- an illness or injury that prevents the student from attending school. The illness or injury must be verified by a health care provider, school nurse, or parent.
- a death in the immediate family (parent, sibling, grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin) or other significant personal or family crisis
- court appearances
- medical or psychological tests during the school day. The parent must show evidence (such as a note from the health center) that the tests could not be scheduled after school.
- religious holidays
- visits to special education schools in some cases for students with disabilities
What Is an Unexcused Absence?
Some parents think that any absence will be excused as long as the parent sends a note. This is not true. Here are a few examples of unexcused absences—even if the parent sends a note:
- repetitive and chronic absence due to illness or injury. In these cases, for the absence to be excused, the parent must submit a letter from a health care provider verifying that the student was too sick or injured to go to school.
- student needed to baby-sit
- cutting class
- family vacation
- trip to the homeland
- extension of a religious or cultural holiday beyond the designated day or days on the school calendar.