DLEACS Goal: Every student will attend school at least 90 percent of the time.
A missed school day is a lost opportunity for students to learn. There is a direct correlation between students who attend school regularly and higher academic achievement levels. In order to reach our goal of attendance, students can miss no more than 17 days of school per year. This may seem like a lot but it's less than two absences per month.
Excused and unexcused absences
The School Board Policy 5113 ABSENCES AND EXCUSES reflects what constitutes an excused absence from school.
Excused Absences
Excused and Unexcused Absence
A. An absence shall be considered an “excused absence” for the purpose of determining promotion, retention, truancy,
grades, course credit, eligibility to make up missed assignments and tests for full credit, and violations of the school code
of conduct for attendance, for the following reasons:
Five allowable reasons for absence: A school may have a day in session that would not be counted as a day in membership for a particular student for the following reasons (New Jersey School Register, Ch.3):
Religious observance (N.J.A.C. 6A:32-8.3(h)); A college visit (up to 3 days per school year, only for students in grades 11 and 12); “Take Our Children to Work Day” (pursuant to the memo issued by the Commissioner to all districts on April 25,
activities (N.J.S.A. 18A: 36-33); or
The closure of a busing district that prevents a student from having transportation to the receiving school. Participation in observance of Veterans Day (N.J.S.A. 18A: 36-13.2) or district board of election membership 2017) or other rule issued by the Commissioner;
Unexcused Absences/Truancy
An "unexcused absence" is a student’s absence for all or part of a school day for any reason other than those listed as
excused absences in “A” above. An unexcused absence may be counted toward retention, truancy, loss of course credit,
ineligibility to make up missed assignments and tests for full credit, and violations of the school code of conduct for
attendance. Absence is expressly not excused for any of the following reasons (this list is intended to be illustrative and is
not inclusive):
1. Family travel;
2. Performance of household or babysitting duties;
3. Other daytime activities unrelated to the school program;
4. Leaving school without permission when school is still in session;
5. Leaving class because of illness and not reporting to the school nurse as directed; or
6. Being present in school but absent from class without approval. Such absence from class is a "class cut."
Attendance
In order for the board of trustees to fulfill its responsibility for providing a thorough and efficient education for each student, the
complete cooperation of parents/guardians and students is required to maintain a high level of school attendance.
The frequent absence of students from classroom learning experiences disrupts the continuity of the instructional process and
limits the ability of students to complete the prescribed curriculum requirements successfully. The following rules shall apply for
student absences:
A. A student shall be considered absent from class for tardiness in excess of one half of the total class period;
B. A student shall be considered absent from school for participation in less than four instructional hours during the school
day.
A student must be in attendance for 160 or more school days in order to be considered to have successfully completed the
instructional program requirements of the grade/course to which he/she is assigned.
A waiver of these attendance requirements may be granted for good cause by the school principal upon recommendation of a
a review committee, appointed by him/her, and consisting of representative staff, including student service personnel and
classroom teachers.
Waiver
In recommending the granting of a waiver of this attendance requirement, the review committee shall consider the nature and
causes of all absences rather than only those in excess 20 days. Documentation of the nature and causes of these absences
shall be the responsibility of the student and parent/guardian.
Parents/guardians are responsible for notifying the school early in the day when a child will be absent and for informing the
school of the reason for the absence.
Make-up procedures
If a student misses school, parents are encouraged to work with their child's teacher and principal to determine the appropriate make-up work and timeline to complete the work. The school has updated the make-up procedures for classwork, assignments, and tests. The procedures are outlined in the student handbooks.
Attendance notifications
A personal attendance phone message goes out to all students with an unexcused absence. Standard practice is for calls to go out beginning at 10:30 a.m.
The recorded attendance notification message is the district’s official parent notification of an unexcused absence. The attendance notification messages are translated into the school's most common languages besides English.