Marion County Board of Education

Attendance Policy

Attendance is a key factor in student achievement and therefore, students are expected to be present each day school is in session.  Excused and unexcused absences are the only two (2) types of excuses recognized by the Marion County School System.  Students and parents must accept full responsibility for regular school attendance.  It is the student’s responsibility to monitor his/her unexcused absences and tardiness.

GRADES K-12

The building principal, in determining excused and unexcused absences, may use some discretion.  The school office will need approved excused notes turned in and filed to aid the attendance supervisor in documenting attendance.  More than five (5) excused absences for personal illness per eighteen (18) week session shall require a doctor’s or dentist’s excuse.  The following shall be accepted by any certified employee of the Marion County School system as an excuse for absences, tardiness and early dismissal.

1. Medical or religious reason
2. Death in the immediate family: (parent, guardian, step-parent, brother, sister, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or any other family member that resides in the student’s house.)
3. Legal (court, attorney, truancy board, etc)
4. A one day excused absence will be granted for students whose parent or guardian is leaving for active military duty or returning from active military duty.
5. Bus problems
6. School-sponsored activities

Absolutely no absence will be excused without a parent or doctor’s note.  Notes shall consist of:

1. Parent notes will include: name of student, the current date, date of student’s absence, reason for absence, and parent/guardian’s signature.  Parent notes do not automatically “excuse” the absence for the student.
2. A written excuse from a doctor, dentist, or other medical professional must have the following:  The date and time of the appointment must be specified.  Only dates specified on the note will be excused as medical.  Only doctor’s excuses for diagnoses and treatment of illnesses within the area of the doctor’s certification will be accepted.  Students who have office visits not involving an illness (ex: tests, physicals, visits to the dentist or health department) are expected to return to school and will be excused for reasonable travel time.
3. If parent notes, Doctor, Dentist or other medical professional notes appear to be excessive, this may result in referral of the student to the Truancy Review Board for further review.
4. Because there are scheduled breaks throughout the school year, i.e. fall break, spring break, and Christmas break, family vacations and Senior Skip Day will not be excused.

A STUDENT HAS A MAXIMUM OF THREE (3) DAYS TO TURN IN HIS/HER WRITTEN EXCUSE UPON RETURNING TO SCHOOL.

The school attendance clerk shall report to the attendance supervisor the names of all children who have withdrawn from school, or who have been absent two (2) unexcused absences.  The attendance clerk at each school shall be responsible for mailing notices to students’ parent(s) or guardian(s) after two (2) aggregate days.

Additional notices will be sent after each successive accumulation of five (5) unexcused absences.  The attendance officer will check each school weekly on a regularly scheduled basis.  The attendance officer may refer the child to the Family Resource Center or other agency for assistance.

A tardy occurs when a student is out of the class room after the beginning of the official school day or when a student is late reporting to a class.  An early dismissal occurs when a student leaves school before the end of the official school day.  Five (5) tardies, five (5) early dismissals, or a combination of both will count as a day’s absence, excused or unexcused, at the principal’s discretion.  Notes for early dismissal must have a contact phone number for parent/guardian verification or the note will not be honored.

The student shall be required to make up missed work as specified by the classroom teacher.  It is the student’s responsibility to collect and return missed work within two (2) days of his/her return.  Failure to complete missed assignments shall constitute a zero for the assignment.  Students who have unexcused absences forfeit the right to receive make-up work.

Students may be retained after ten (10) unexcused absences.  No credit is defined on a numerical grading scale as sixty-nine (69).

Driver’s License Revocation:

More than 10 consecutive or fifteen (15) reported unexcused absences by a student during any semester renders a student ineligible to retain a diver’s permit, or to obtain such if of age.  A student must also make “Satisfactory Academic Progress” by making a passing grade in at least three full unit subjects or their equivalency per semester.

Loss of Campus Parking Privileges:

The student shall lose driving privileges on campus and to all school related activities or events for one nine-week grading period if said student has five (5) or more unexcused absences and /or six (6) unexcused tardies in a semester (18 week grading period).  Violators will be towed at owner’s expense.
Attendance Review Board

The chairman of the Marion County Board will appoint an Attendance Review Board to hear appeals.  The Review Board will consist of not more than five (5) persons comprised of administrators, teachers and counselors.  The chairman may initially appoint more than five persons so that a panel of five can be convened from the appointees whenever appeals arise.  Students have the right to appeal loss of credit- They must petition the Attendance Review Board in writing with a parent/guardian signature.  These appeals shall be sent to the attendance supervisor stating the specific grounds for appeal.  All appeals shall be filed not later than five (5) calendar days after the contested absence(s).  The Review Board shall meet as required.

After hearing the appeal, the Review Board shall issue a written decision to the parent/guardian of the student within seven (7) days of the hearing.

Decisions of the Review Board shall be final and shall not be appealed to the Board of Education unless a majority of the membership of that Board votes to hear the appeal.

Homebound teachers will be available upon completion of proper forms and shall apply only if duration is for more than ten (10) consecutive days.  All 504 cases will be handled on an individual basis.

Truancy Board

There shall be a Truancy Board established in each school to determine the disposition of cases involving five (5) unexcused absences or six (6) tardies.  The Truancy Board shall consist of at least three (3) and not more than five (5) certified individuals as appointed by the attendance supervisor.  The attendance supervisor shall serve on the Truancy Board.  The Truancy Board shall request the parent or guardian, along with the student, to come before it in order to resolve the problem of unexcused absences prior to the student being denied course credit or referral to the juvenile court.

It is preferable to work with parents to insure the child’s regular school attendance rather than to file arrest warrants against parents for contributing to the unruly conduct of dependency and neglect of their minor child resulting from school absences.  The Truancy Board shall have the authority to cite the parent and/or refer the parent and student to juvenile court for disposition, which may result in a fine of up to fifty dollars ($50) and/or imprisonment of up to thirty (30) days for each offense.

The decision of the Truancy Board shall be final.