Attendance

When a student is absent from school, the parent or legal guardian must notify the attendance office within 3 days of the absence. **If notification of an absence is not received within 3 days, the absence will be logged as a truancy and appropriate disciplinary actions will apply.

Select one of the following ways to notify attendance of an absence:

Send a note with your student to give to the attendance office. The note must be written in pen and received by the attendance office within 3 days of the absence, and must include:
1. Students' first and last name
2. Date(s) of absence(s)
3. Reason
4. Parent/guardian signature
Email the Attendance Office at LHHSAttendance@svusd.org within 3 days of the absence. Your email must include:
1. Student's first and last name
2. Date(s) of the absence(s)
3. Reason
4. Parent/guardian name

The District Attendance Auto Caller is up and running. Auto calls go out to parents the same day in which the absence has occurred. If you receive an auto call that your child has missed one or more periods, you may view your student's attendance through the parent portal or the student portal. Your student must resolve the absence directly with the teacher if the absence is believed to be in error.

Attendance Policy/Procedures, Politica y procedimientos de asistencia

Absence Notification Forms and Early Dismissal Forms

Autocall Notification of Absence

What to do if you received a phone call from LHHS stating that your student missed one or more periods of school that day and your student says the notification is incorrect:

Parents and students can view attendance (and which class marked the absence) through their Aeries portal. It is the STUDENT'S responsibility to have that teacher email or write a correction slip stating that the student was present, absent or late in the class. This slip or email must be presented to the attendance clerk, who will adjust the attendance at that time.

Early Dismissals (including Dr. and court appointments)

GUIDELINES FOR EARLY DISMISSALS

When a student is leaving campus prior to the end of the day, an early dismissal must be issued. Early dismissals are overseen by the State and, therefore, must meet certain requirements. If a student leaves campus without an early dismissal release from the attendance office, the student is considered TRUANT and will receive an automatic Saturday school. You cannot get it cleared after the student has left campus.

There are two ways a student may leave early from campus:

1. By note (recommended)

On the day the student is leaving early, the student will come to the attendance office before their first period to drop off a parent note requesting an early dismissal from school. The parent note requesting an early dismissal must include the following:

First and last name of student
Date
Time the student is leaving (please DO NOT state what period as the time of that period can change within the week)
Reason for early dismissal
Parent/Guardian signature

**If the note does not contain ALL of the above, the student will not be allowed to leave.

2. By parent/legal guardian:

If the student does not have an early dismissal note or a correct early dismissal note, the parent/legal guardian must come into the attendance office and sign out the student. Please be prepared to show your Driver's License or California ID card to check out your student. The attendance office will then retrieve the student from class.

Please be advised that it must be the PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN that signs the student out. Those people listed on the emergency card are for "school emergency" pick-ups only. It does not give the right for the "emergency contacts" to pick your student up for any reason other than a school related emergency.

REQUIREMENT FOR ABSENCE DUE TO DOCTOR/DENTIST APPOINTMENT

If your student obtains an early dismissal for a doctor/dentist appointment, it will be considered UNEXCUSED until the attendance office receives proof of attendance at the doctor/dentist appointment. The student will have 3 days from the early dismissal to present the doctor note/verification. If your student is coming to school late due to a doctor/dentist appointment, a doctor/dentist note/verification will be required in order to clear the absence (again you will be allowed 3 days from date of absence to clear it).

REQUIREMENT FOR ABSENCE DUE TO COURT APPOINTMENT

If your student is at court for any part of a school day, then the attendance office requires proof from the court that your student was there. It will be considered an unexcused absence if no proof is submitted.

Sick at School

If a student should become sick or not feel well at school, the student must come to the health office in the administration building. At that time the health clerk will assess the student and make any calls home. The student is not to call the parent to come and pick him/her up - that is the responsibility of the health office as we have to make sure it is the parent that is called. The student may not leave campus without a release from the health clerk (otherwise it is an automatic Saturday School and truancy).

College Visits

ONLY Seniors and Juniors may obtain excused absences for college visits. The visits are limited to five per school year. The visits MUST be approved by an administrator PRIOR to leaving for the visit. The student must request written approval by stating (in writing):

Their first and last name
Date(s) to be absent
The college they are visiting
The parent's/guardian's signature

The student is to present this note to an administrator - Mr. Hinds, Mr. Chadwick, Mr. Vinagupta, Ms. Nia or Ms. Maxwell to get their approval. Once the student has the signed approval of an administrator, the student is to give the note to the attendance clerk for the appropriate action.

Please remember, if the student leaves to visit a college without prior approval it will be considered an unexcused absence.

Independent Study Contracts

If your student will be missing five (5) or more days of school due to vacation, sporting event or personal reasons, then your student should sign up for an Independent Study Contract (ISC). The purpose of the ISC is for the student to receive credit for "being present" in class and for the school to recoup State money for him/her being absent. EVERY DAY that a student is absent, the school and district loses $60 in funds from the State.

**NOTE - the maximum amount of days allowed on Independent Study Contract is 14. Any additional absences after 14 days will be Unexcused.

The student and parent should see the attendance clerk to sign a contract two weeks prior to the student leaving (the more time we give the teacher, the easier it is to get the contract). Once the contract is signed, the student will hand it out to each teacher, who will fill it out and give it back to the student. The student will collect all contracts and then give them back to the attendance clerk before they leave. The student then takes the contracts with him/her. The first day the student returns to school, the student must give the completed contracts to the attendance clerk prior to going to class. The attendance clerk will then disperse the contracts to the teachers to grade.

Tardies

It is extremely important that students arrive in class on time. Late arrivals will affect attendance as well as interrupt teachers and students. A student who is not in the assigned seat when the tardy bell rings is considered tardy. After 30 minutes, a student is considered tardy truant and must check in at the Attendance Office and receive a tardy slip before going to class.

Remember, tardies can cause detention, Saturday school, a meeting with the District Attorney and referral to the SARB proceedings.

Tardies are only excused for illness or medical/dental appointments proven by a doctors note and stamp(E5113). The attendance office will not accept any other notes to clear tardies.

The District tardy policy is as follows:

Tardy 1: Teacher notifies the student of the unexcused tardy.

Tardy 2: Teacher notifies the student of the unexcused tardy.

Tardy 3: Teacher notifies the student and student is assigned a two hour detention (2 demerits).

Tardy 4: Teacher notifies the student of the unexcused tardy.

Tardy 5: Teacher notifies the student of the unexcused tardy.

Tardy 6: Teacher notifies the student of the unexcused tardy; discipline notified;

Saturday School assigned (4 demerits); placed on tardy contract; parent notified of contract and terms.

Tardy 7: Teacher notifies the student of the unexcused tardy.

Tardy 8: Teacher notifies the student of the unexcused tardy.

Tardy 9: Teacher notifies the student of the unexcused tardy.

Tardy 10: Discipline notified; parent notified of loss of privileges (please see discipline for list of privileges and how to clear the demerits).

Beyond 10 tardies - the student and parent will be referred to meet with the District Attorney. Further tardies will result in a SARB hearing.

Truancy

Doctors Note Needed After 14 Total Days Absent

Pursuant to AR 5113 4b, if a student has been absent from school for a total of 14 days or more during the year for verified illness, then the student must present a doctor's note to excuse any further absences due to illness or doctor's appointments. If a doctor's note is not produced for that absence, then it will be considered unexcused and count towards the attendance policy. This includes any early dismissals through the health office.

A letter will be sent home when the student reaches their 8th full day absence due to illness/doctor's appointment asking the student to attend school regularly. On the 14th day of absence another letter is sent home stating that a doctor's note is now required for every absence due to illness/doctor's appointments for the rest of the school year. This includes doctor/dentist notes being required when a student is coming to school late due to a medical appointment or leaving school sick through the health office.

If a student has excessive single period absences due to illness or doctor/dentist appointments, they will be mailed appropriate letters that will place them on the "Doctor's Note Only " list for the rest of the school year.

Forged Notes

FORGED NOTES

Any student who is caught with a forged note will no longer be able to clear absences with a parent/guardian note. From that point on, the parent/guardian will have to phone in any absence by noon on the day of each absence otherwise the absence will be considered a truant and result in a Saturday school. A student forging a note will receive a truant for each forgery and will be assigned a Saturday school, in-house suspension or home suspension for each note forged.

OUR RIGHT TO QUESTION NOTES

The California Education Code and Saddleback Valley School District give the attendance office the right to question and override any readmit note.

PERIOD Unexcused Absences, Truants, and Tardies

Irregular attendance is one of the major constraints in maintaining a quality educational program for high school students. There is no more important variable than the time spent on task in the classroom under the guidance of a professional educator. Attendance is taken every day in every class period. The consequences for unexcused absences or truants are listed below:

FULL DAY UNEXCUSED ABSENCES/TRUANTS

Full day unexcused absences or truants will be addressed under the SARB rules. Please see the SARB section.

PERIOD UNEXCUSED ABSENCES/PERIOD TRUANTS AND TRUANT TARDIES

Individual unexcused, truant or truant tardy period absences accumulated throughout the school day:

1 - 4 Period Truants