Attendance

The State of California requires that students participate in at least 60 hours of instruction per course, also defined as “seat time”, to earn one credit for a course. More than 5 unexcused and/or unverified absences during a semester could result in an “F” for the course if the absences are not made up before the grading period ends. Attendance performance will be reflected in PayDay Reports. To increase students’ opportunities for success academically, we have established the following attendance expectations:

All absences must be cleared by the parent/guardian within five school days. Any unverified absence(s) without a valid excuse is considered unexcused or truant. Students with excessive attendance issues will be referred to the Student Attendance Review Team (SART). Please review each of the following expectations regarding attendance:
 

Education Code sections 46010 and 48205 identify acceptable reasons for absences as follows:

Excused Absences:These absences still count against seat time for earning credits.

·Personal illness: School may require doctor’s note, especially if absences are excessive.

·Personal medical/dental appointment: signed doctor/dentist note required.

·Funeral services of parent, sibling, grandparent, or any relative living in the child’s immediate household: Limited to one day in California and three days out of state.

·Personal court appearance: verification required.

·District-recognized religious holiday.

Unexcused Absences:

·Truancies

·Transportation, car problems, traffic, etc.

·Personal or family problems (with the exception of an administrative approved CIS)

·Going out of town for vacation or any reason not excused above

·Babysitting or taking care of other family members

·Going to work with parent or other family members

·Oversleeping

·“Alarm didn’t go off,” etc.

Making up missed assignments
It is the student’s responsibility to contact all teachers immediately upon return to school (for all classes missed) to get make-up work. Students have two school days for every excused day to make up assignments. Teachers are not required to accept missed work for unexcused absences.

Leaving Campus
Students may not leave the campus under any circumstanceswithout the school receiving authorized permission from a parent/guardian. Students leaving the site without authorization will be considered “truant.” The student must sign out in the CTA office before leaving campus. Students who ride the school bus must remain on campus once the bus has arrived to the school, otherwise they will be considered truant. Leaving campus also includes students who go to the KHEC Parking Lot or to their own cars during the school day.Teachers will not permit students to leave their classrooms to go to their cars.

Contract for Independent Study
If at the discretion of the principal, a contract is granted, the student must turn in the contracted work on the day he or she returns to receive credit for missed work. Teachers are responsible for collecting all work assignments identified in the CIS. If this work is turned in on time, the contracted days will not count against seat time for the grading period. Independent Study Contracts must be requested 10 days in advance through the CTA Attendance Office. All CIS assignments are due on the same day the student returns to school. The only exceptions are those that require the students’ immediate removal from the site, approved through administration. Please direct all parent inquiries regarding this process to the CTA Attendance Office. 
 
Tardies

A student is considered tardy if he/she is not in his/her assigned seat or workstation as determined by the teacher, when the tardy bell starts to ring. Students who arrive to class 15 minutes after the first period class begins must sign in at the school office to receive a pass to class.

Four tardies are equivalent to one day bsence and can only be cleared by attending Saturday school. Students with up to 3 tardies will be given Assigned Tutorial Support (ATS). ATS can be served either before or after school on days set at the beginning of the school year with any teacher.

Tardies accumulate throughout the school day. For example, if a student is tardy in 1stperiod one day, and in 4thperiod another day, their next tardy inany periodwill be counted as a third tardy and ATS will be assigned. Parents and students will be informed of all attendance issues with an attendance printout in the PayDay packet. See PayDay Policies and Procedures. Furthermore, individual teachers may implement additional consequences for tardies in their classrooms.
 
Tardy Sweeps
The CTA Leadership Team will determine the dates for random tardy sweeps that will be conducted throughout the year. Students who have been identified as tardy will report to the CTA Main Office where parents will be contacted, and the student will be assigned same day after-school Assigned Tutorial Support. In cases of repeated offenses, students may be assigned Saturday School.
 
Truancy
State law defines a truant as “any pupil subject to compulsory full-time education or to compulsory continuation education who is absent from school without valid excuse three full days in one school year or tardy or absent for more than any 30-minute period during the school-day without a valid excuse on three occasions in one school year, or any combination thereof” (Education Code Section 48260). Each single-period truancy will result in an after-school ATS hour.  Every confirmed “all day” truancy will result in an automatic Saturday School.  
 
SART

The Student Attendance Review Team (SART) is a school-based effort to bring together resources to assist families with attendance and truancy issues so that students will stay in school, attend school regularly and graduate. SART works to divert students with school attendance or school behavior problems from the juvenile court system by providing guidance and coordinated community services to meet their special needs. SART is the site-level support to address attendance concerns and is a preliminary requirement of the District’s Student Attendance Review Board (SARB). District counselors, teachers, nurses, school police officers and a school attendance review team are then brought in to help students at the school site level.