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| Attendance policy, guidelines
Information specific to each school is contained in student handbooks which are distributed at the beginning of the school year.
BOARD OF SCHOOL TRUSTEES
NOBLESVILLE SCHOOLS
POLICY
ATTENDANCE
The School Board, as an agency of the State, is required to enforce regular attendance of students. The Board recognizes that the presence in the classroom enables the student to participate in instruction, class discussions, and other related activities. As such, regular attendance and classroom participation are integral to instilling incentives for the student to excel.
Attendance shall be required of all Corporation students, except those exempted under policy 5223 or by other provisions of State law, during the days and hours that the school is in session or during the attendance sessions to which she/he has been assigned.
A student may not attend school if it is shown to the satisfaction of the Superintendent that the mental condition of the student is such that she/he cannot benefit from instruction, or that the bodily condition of the student is such as to prevent attendance at school or that she/he is receiving instruction equivalent to that provided in public schools.
The Superintendent shall require, from the parent of each student or from an adult student who has been absent for any reason, a statement of the cause for such absence. The Board reserves the right to verify such statements.
Repeated infractions of the Board's policy on attendance may result in suspension or expulsion.
Each school building is expected to meet or exceed the expected rate of attendance as calculated under the Indiana Department of Education's school improvement and achievement goals.
The Board considers the following factors to be reasonable excuses for time missed at school:
A. illness;
B. recovery from accident;
C. required court attendance;
D. professional appointments;
E. death in the immediate family;
F. observation or celebration of a bona fide religious holiday;
G. extraordinary circumstances as documented to and approved by the Principal or permitted by law.
Attendance need not always be within the school facilities, but a student will be considered to be in attendance if present at any place where school is in session by authority of the Board.
The Board shall consider each student assigned to a program of other guided learning experiences, authorized under policy 2370, to be in regular attendance for the program provided that she/he reports to such staff member she/he is assigned for guidance at the place in which she/he is conducting study, and regularly demonstrates progress toward the objectives of the course of study.
The Superintendent shall develop administrative guidelines for the attendance of students which:
A. ensure a school session which is in conformity with the requirements of the law and school improvement efforts;
B. ensure that students absent for any excusable reason have an opportunity to make-up work they missed;
C. govern the keeping of attendance records in accordance with the rules of the State Board.
The Superintendent shall ensure that the administrative guidelines on attendance properly address the matter of truancy by including a process which:
A. identifies the habitual truant, that is, "the student who refuses to attend school in defiance of parental authority";
B. investigates the cause(s) of his/her truant behavior;
C. considers, when appropriate, modification of his/her educational program to meet particular needs which may be causing the truancy;
D. ensures that truant students are disciplined in accordance with the Corporation's policies and administrative guidelines on student discipline;
E. provides for the reporting to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles those students who have been suspended for the second time during a school year or expelled.
The Superintendent shall also ensure that the Board's policy on attendance and the Corporation's administrative guidelines are made available to all parents and adult students.
I.C. 9-1-4-29, 20-8.1-3-3, 20-8.1-3-17, 18
OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT
NOBLESVILLE SCHOOLS
GUIDELINES
ATTENDANCE
Students are in attendance one hundred and eighty (180) days per year, and there are one hundred and eighty-five (185) days during the year which do not require school attendance. The building principal will emphasize good daily attendance practices with students and with the parents or guardians by communicating through the building handbook and by the following:
A. The school requests the parent/guardian contact the school on the morning a student is absent. If this cannot be done or is not done, then notification from the parent/guardian should follow upon his/her return to school.
B. If the student is going to be out of school for any extended period of time, the school should be notified as soon as it is known the student will miss more than two consecutive days.
In cases where a student is going to be out a period or so on a given day, a phone call or note should accompany the student to school that day. In cases where it is known a student is going to be out of school, the school should be notified prior to the absence. Documentation should be provided related to absences for professional visits.
C. A school representative shall contact the parent/guardian when a student is absent for no apparent reason, or if the school has not received proper documentation to explain any extended period of absences. Following the contact, she/he and the building principal will discuss the problem and reach a decision on the proper attendance plan. School officials or other authorities may visit homes whenever the school cannot contact the parent/guardian.
D. If the absenteeism should continue after the initial visit by school officials, the school authorities will entertain future considerations, such as conducting parent-school conferences, initiating student suspensions, requesting student expulsion, formal referral to juvenile authorities, or seeking legal action against the parent, and any other action that would seem feasible at the time.
E. Individual schools shall develop attendance policies and procedures which detail procedures for different grade levels and publish such procedures in the student handbook.
F. Each school shall have an official withdrawal slip filled out when a student withdraws from school. These are to be kept on file in the principal's office or the office of student assistance. The parent shall authorize the withdrawal.
Absences
A. Absence Recorded as Being Present
Students absent for listed reasons as set forth in State statutes shall be recorded as present and accorded all benefits of being present:
1. service as a page in the Indiana General Assembly;
2. service on a precinct election board or as a helper to a political candidate or political party on the date of a general, city or town, special or primary election;
3. subpoenaed to appear in court as a witness in a judicial proceeding.
B. Valid reasons for school absences are stated in Board policy.
C. Mandated Absences
Suspension, expulsion, or exclusion under provisions of the Indiana Code.
D. Communicable Disease
Any child who is absent from school because of having a communicable disease may be requested to have an excuse/release from the doctor before being readmitted to school.
Make-up Work
Annually the Board adopts and publishes a school year calendar including student attendance days, days students are not in session, and vacation periods. Parents/guardians are encouraged to ensure that their children are in school during student attendance days and will be in attendance for any scheduled make-up days lost due to weather or emergency. Absences resulting from those reasons in Policy 5200 are valid. School work missed in accordance with policy may be made-up for full credit or waived without penalty. School work missed for unexcused absences will result in the loss of credit for make-up work unless determined otherwise by the principal.
Students' absences other than approved in Policy 5200 shall be unexcused. The Board recognizes that there may be student absences which although unexcused, warrant making up missed work at partial or loss of credit. Building principals, therefore shall establish procedures for conferring with parents or guardians prior to student absences and shall prepare guidelines for recognized absences, including criteria for make-up work.
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