As we strive to achieve our vision of all students graduating success-ready, we believe prioritizing daily attendance translates into dependability in future endeavors, such as post-high school studies, the workforce, and community engagement opportunities.
Regular attendance and prompt arrival at the beginning of the school day and staying at school the entirety of the day are important to maximize learning opportunities and maintain a focused learning environment for all learners.
It is our goal to partner with parents as we live our mission of students being empowered to drive their learning and shape their future, and that begins with students’ active engagement at school.
The state's expectation that students achieve 90% attendance each year is attainable. To maintain 90% attendance, a student must have fewer than 16 absences. Our district’s proportional attendance is currently 80.4%. This year we will increase this by at least 5% with your partnership.
We know there are reasons to be absent from school, and we expect each student will have reasons for absences this school year; however, as we continue to prepare students for success in the real world, there are not unlimited days that one can be absent from responsibilities at work or in higher education. For this reason, beginning in the 2026-27 school year, we are bringing greater clarity to excused and unexcused absences and to how those missed school days are coded.
The following are reasons that are considered acceptable absences:
- Student sent home from school for illness
- Doctor’s appointment (eg., hospital stay, doctor, dentist, orthodontist)
- Individual Health Plan-related absence
- Severe illness and/or injury
- Court date
- Funeral
- School-Related Absences (eg., school field trip, activities, athletics)
- Religious observances
- Visits with a parent or legal guardian who is an active duty member of the military who has been called to duty, is on leave from, or is immediately returned from deployment to a combat zone or combat support posting
- High School College Visit
Coding student absences as Excused
- All absences for illness must include a doctor’s note to be excused unless sent home from school with illness.
- Acceptable absences (listed above) may be excused if accompanied by documentation.
Coding student absences as Unexcused
Parent communication before student absences is still very important. We ask that you continue to inform the school of absences even if they do not fall under the acceptable absences list. This will be noted as a parent-confirmed absence.
Please note that students in grades 9–12 are permitted up to eight absences per course, per semester. Students who accumulate nine or more unexcused absences in a course may result in no credit. Beginning in Fall 2026, students will have opportunities to recover seat time through designated attendance recovery programs. Additional information about these opportunities will be shared in high school attendance communications.
Thank you for your support as we work as partners to reach our ultimate goal of all students graduating success-ready.
