Good teachers and the best curriculum are of little consequence if students do not attend school on a regular basis. Time lost from the classroom is essentially unretrievable; the experiences, discussions and the uniqueness of the classroom learning process require school attendance. Students, parents and school staff must work together to accomplish full advantage of educational opportunities. Failure to attend school on a regular basis will lead to problems. Establishing good attendance habits early will better equip young people toward being productive members of society. Classroom attendance is considered to be an integral part of the student's course of study.

1. Attendance

Connecticut state law requires parents to cause their children, ages five to eighteen inclusive, to attend school regularly during the hours and terms the public school is in session. Parents or persons having control of a child five years of age have the option of not sending the child to school until ages six or seven. Mandatory attendance terminates upon graduation or withdrawal with written parental/guardian consent at ages sixteen or seventeen.

2. Excused Absences and Dismissals

A. (1)Medical/illness or injury which requires the student's presence at home

(2) Death in the family which requires the student's presence at home

(3) Religious observances which require the student's presence at home

(4) School sponsored field trips and activities

(5) Court appearances

(6) Certain athletic tournaments and meets

(7) Suspension

(8) In-school appointments (counselor, administrator, nurse, etc.)

(9) Such others that the principal judges as warranted

B. In case of illness or other emergencies necessitating early dismissal, the school will notify parent/guardian or an assigned emergency person, if it is possible to do so, before dismissing the pupil. No pupil shall be dismissed from the school grounds without the approval of the principal or his/her designee.

3. Unexcused Absences

A. All other absences with or without written explanation shall be considered unexcused.

4. Procedures

A. Each school will develop proper measures to insure regular attendance including means of checking on absentee reporting to parents and disciplining truants. A parental note must follow each absence or dismissal to be kept until the end of the school year.

B. Three (3) unexcused absences result in a mandatory parent conference where procedures to check on the student more regularly are established if they have not already been put into operation.

C. A fourth unexcused absence results in a mandatory PPT and a recommendation to the superintendent's office to either report the student to juvenile authorities or not depending on the circumstances.

D. A truancy log is kept according to administrative policy.

E. Continued truancy may also be reported to D.C.F. as educational neglect if the circumstances warrant it. A report is immediately filed with the superintendent's office on any D.C.F. referral.

F. Truants will be required to make-up the time and work. Principal, teachers and parents will work together to coordinate these arrangements.

5. Responsibility

It is the teacher's responsibility to:

A. Keep accurate attendance records

B. Provide a schedule of assignments and make-up work when appropriate

C. Follow through on unexcused absences and scheduled deadlines

It is the principal's responsibility to:

A. Assist the teacher, students and parents by establishing clear procedure

B. To communicate this policy to staff, students and parents

C. Enforce this policy

6. Elementary and Middle School

If a student is not prompt and regular in attendance, proper measures shall be taken to encourage regular attendance. If such encour-agement is (not successful in improving the situation, the following shall be implemented:

A. Students not previously retained and having missed 45 days in one academic year shall be automatically retained.

B. Students not previously retained and having missed a total of 56 days in two successive academic years shall be automatically retained.

C. Students who are not being retained and have missed at least 28 days in one academic year shall automatically be assigned to summer school. They will be considered for promotion only after successfully passing summer school.

7. Appeal Procedures (Elementary & Middle School)

The parents/guardians who are affected by this attendance policy may request a hearing. Such requests should be made to the principal within ten (10) days of the date of the notification that the attendance policy affected their son or daughter. The initiative of the appeals process is the sole responsibility of the parent.

If a parent wishes to appeal the decision of the principal, s/he may do so to the superintendent. This appeal is to be made within ten (10) days. If the parent and/or student does not agree with the superintendent's decision, s/he may appeal to the Board of Education within ten (10) days.

8. Montville High School

A. To earn credit for a course, the student is obligated to not exceed the allowable limit of absences (6 for semester classes and 12 for full year classes) as established by the school's attendance policy.

A student will receive no credit when seven (7) absences for semester courses and thirteen (13) absences for full year courses have been reached.

The grade earned will appear on the report card/transcript with a comment that no credit earned is due to attendance.

B. Students will no longer be required to turn in a "yellow card" when absent from school. There will no longer be excused/unexcused absences.

C. Students with chronic illnesses should document their condition with the nurse.

D. Any class missed because of an early dismissal or tardiness will count as an absence if the student was not present for at least 60 minutes of the block. Being pulled out of a class will be referred to as a noncountable absence.

E. APPEALS will be heard only ONCE for a class--in January for first semester classes and in June for second semester and full year classes. Official documentation must accompany all appeal applications. Appeals will not be approved without official documentation. The appeal board will consist of parents, teachers, administrators, and students.

F. A notification letter will be sent out when a student begins to reach and exceeds the allowable number of absences from class. Both the number of absences for the year and the number of absences for the semester will be cited in the letter.

G. Any student who exceeds the number of absences without written documentation and thus denied an appeal, will receive no credit for the class.

H. Noncountable absences (field trips, suspensions, etc.) do not count toward the allowable limit of absences per class.

I. The consequences for a class cut is a two-hour Saturday detention (first offense), four-hour Saturday detention (second offense), and two-day suspension (third offense). Additionally, students will not be allowed to make up any missed work due to their decision to cut the class.

J. The attendance committee recommends that academic penalty should not be imposed for issues of attendance. Such as no longer having a 5 pt. penalty for truancy or cutting a class. The penalty should come from the administration and more severe than it presently is. The students' penalty within the classroom will be self imposed because he/she will not be allowed to hand in any work which was due, receive any assignments, or take any scheduled test. It is questioned by some if the 5 pt. penalty is removed, will students be more willing to skip if he/she knows they will not be missing any work and thus their grade will not be affected. This issue needs to be further discussed by the scheduling committee and/or the faculty.

1. Daily class attendance form will be checked by secretary each day.

2. Teachers will indicate child who has been absent for three days.

3. The nurse, nurse's aide, or secretary will call parent of those children absent for three days.

4. Child must bring in a note from the parent or guardian, for all absences. Notes will be kept on file by the teacher.

5. If no note is sent in, teacher will send form letter to parent/guardian, requesting written reason for absence.

6. A doctor's note is required for contagious illnesses, accidents, and extended school absences of a medical nature.

7. Three unexcused absences result in a mandatory parent conference where procedures to check on the student more regularly are established if they have not already been put into operation.

8. A fourth unexcused absence results in a mandatory P.P.T. and a recommendation to the superintendent's office to either report the student to juvenile authorities or not depending on the circumstances.

9. A truancy log is kept according to admin-istrative policy.

10. Continued truancy may also be reported to D.C.F. as educational neglect if the circumstances warrant it. A report is immediately filed with the superintendent's office on any D.C.F. referral.

11. Habitual tardiness is met by a form letter to the parent or guardian.

12. Continued tardiness, after written notification, is referred for a conference.

1. A secretary calls students who are absent.

2. A record of their absence is kept on an individual 3x5 card with the reason for absence.

3. The cards, of those students which the secretary has not been able to contact the parents, are given to the assistant principal.

4. If no note has been brought to school, the first day the student returns, an office detention is given to the student for failing to meet their responsibilities. If there is no note on the second day, the student will serve the detention, and the assistant principal will contact the home by phone or if that is unsuccessful, by mail, informing the parent that we need to speak to them and receive a note excusing the absence.

5. Any absence for which the parent will not provide a written excuse is considered a truancy for which in-school suspension is the consequence.

6. Parents are notified of the in-school suspension and invited to a parent conference.

7. A doctor's note is required for contagious illnesses, accidents, and extended school absences of a medical nature.

8. Three (3) unexcused absences result in a mandatory parent conference where procedures to check on the student more regularly are established if they have not already been put into operation.

9. A fourth unexcused absence results in a mandatory P.P.T. and a recommendation to the superintendent's office to either report the student to juvenile authorities or not depending on the circumstances.

10. A truancy log is kept according to administrative policy.

11. Continued truancy may also be reported to D.C.F. as educational neglect if the circumstances warrant it. A report is immediately filed with the superintendent's office on any D.C.F. referral.

12. Excessive tardiness to school will result in office detentions being issued. A record of tardiness is kept in the office and students may be reported by teachers, guidance counselors or any member of the office staff.

13. Continued tardiness to school after office detention can result in an in-school suspension. Parents are notified at each step.

14. After three (3) suspensions a mandatory parent conference is held.

15. After four (4) suspensions a mandatory P.P.T. is held to review the student's program.

Appeals Process - Elementary and Middle School -

Criteria for appeals decision on principal's level concerning retention and summer school (Policy 5113, Attendance).

Upon the receipt of an appeal, the principal will base his/her decision on the following:

1. At the start of the appeal process the principal will ask the parents to present a written statement of extenuating circumstances they would like to have considered before a decision is reached.

2. The appropriate staff member(s) shall inform the principal of the student's academic record. If the student qualifies for retention academically the appeal shall be denied.

3. If the student does not qualify for retention academically, a meeting of that student's teachers shall be held. The opinions of the teachers shall be presented regarding the value of retention for this student.

4. If the student does not qualify for retention academically, the teachers do not feel retention is in the student's best interest and there are extenuating circumstances including illness then the successful completion of summer school as being a reasonable alternative to retention will be considered.

5. If the student does not qualify for retention academically but the teachers feel retention is in the student's best interest the appeal shall be denied.

6. If the student does not qualify for retention academically and the teachers feel retention is not in the student's best interest but the number of days missed is beyond what is reasonable, even after considering extenuating circumstances presented by the parents, then the appeal shall be denied.

7. If the student does not qualify for retention academically, the teachers feel retention is not in the student's best interest, extenuating circum-stances exist, the number of absence are understandable given the student's problems, and the student has made up a majority of the work then that appeal shall be granted.

1. Each day a secretary will attempt to telephone parents of every student who is absent.

-A record will be kept of the telephone calls and the person reached on a daily absence list.

2. A doctor's note is required for contagious illnesses, accidents, and extended school absences of a medical nature.

3. Three (3) unexcused absences result in a mandatory parent conference where procedures to check on the student more regularly are established if they have not already been put into operation.

4. A fourth unexcused absence results in a mandatory P.P.T. and a recommendation to the superintendent's office to either report the student to juvenile authorities or not depending on the circumstances.

5. A truancy log is kept according to administrative policy.

6. Continued truancy may also be reported to D.C.F. as educational neglect if the circumstances warrant it. A report is immediately filed with the superintendent's office on any D.C.F. referral.

Policy 5113