Attendance & Illness Guidelines
Regular Attendance is Good for Learning
Punctual and regular attendance is extremely important for a student to be successful at school. Additionally, due to current funding laws for public schools, absences cause schools to lose funding for the day, regardless of whether these absences were excused or unexcused. Formal notices will be mailed home and placed in the student's permanent cumulative file for excessive absences and tardies. Ten (10) or more absences are considered excessive, including excused absences due to illness, and will require doctor's notes.
Students have several school holidays throughout the school year, including a week at Thanksgiving, two weeks for Winter Break, Presidents’ Week and a week for spring break. Please plan your vacations accordingly.
If Your Child is Absent
The school should be notified of anticipated absences due to family emergencies, any medical or dental appointments, or any other unavoidable prolonged absence (see below).
Illness
Truancy, Attendance and Tardy Alerts
The state funds that we receive for the daily attendance of students are not paid whenever children are absent from school for any reason. Every time your child is absent the San Carlos School District loses more than $50.
Truancy
A student who misses school entirely or a portion of the day without appropriate permission is considered truant. Truancy is a serious offense. If three or more days are missed and not excused, a letter will be sent home explaining the next steps in the process. Documentation of truancy will reside in the student’s permanent cumulative file.
Punctual and regular attendance is extremely important for a student to be successful at school. Additionally, due to current funding laws for public schools, absences cause schools to lose funding for the day, regardless of whether these absences were excused or unexcused. Formal notices will be mailed home and placed in the student's permanent cumulative file for excessive absences and tardies. Ten (10) or more absences are considered excessive, including excused absences due to illness, and will require doctor's notes.
Students have several school holidays throughout the school year, including a week at Thanksgiving, two weeks for Winter Break, Presidents’ Week and a week for spring break. Please plan your vacations accordingly.
If Your Child is Absent
The school should be notified of anticipated absences due to family emergencies, any medical or dental appointments, or any other unavoidable prolonged absence (see below).
Illness
- Call the school (650-508-7303) on the morning of the first day of the absence.
- Notify the school immediately if your child has a contagious illness, including Strep, “Pink Eye”, Scarlet Fever, Chicken Pox, Measles, Impetigo, “Hand-and-Mouth Disease”, etc.so that exposure notices can be sent out.
- Students with fever should not return to school until their temperature has been normal for at least 24 hours.
- The San Carlos District nurse is at Heather School on a scheduled basis and for emergencies.
- District School Illness Guidelines
Truancy, Attendance and Tardy Alerts
The state funds that we receive for the daily attendance of students are not paid whenever children are absent from school for any reason. Every time your child is absent the San Carlos School District loses more than $50.
Truancy
A student who misses school entirely or a portion of the day without appropriate permission is considered truant. Truancy is a serious offense. If three or more days are missed and not excused, a letter will be sent home explaining the next steps in the process. Documentation of truancy will reside in the student’s permanent cumulative file.
Tardiness
All students are required to be on time to school. The first bell is at 8:20 and students are expected to be in their classes ready for learning by 8:25. Students arriving after 8:25 are considered tardy. If a student is struggling with being on time to school, parents will be contacted.If the problem continues a process to remedy will begin with a formal letter. If a student has 3 or more 30-minute or greater unexcused tardies, this is considered to be a truancy issue and as stated above, will be addressed with a letter home outlining the next steps in the process to support the student.
Picking Up Your Child During School Hours
If a student needs to be pick up before the end of the school day, send a note with your child or notify the school office in the morning stating the time you need to pick up your child and the reason for early release.Meet your child in the school office, not the classroom. Teachers cannot release a student to a parent directly from the classroom during instructional time.Sign for the release in the office. Your child will be called and meet you in the office.If the student returns to school after the appointment a parent/guardian must sign the student back into school.
Update Your Emergency Information Card
Please make sure that all persons picking up your child during the school year re listed on your child’s Student Emergency Information Card. Students will not be released to anyone except the parent, legal guardian or a person you have authorized in writing on the Student Emergency Information Card.
It is recommend that court custody orders be provided to the school office to assure that there is no question about the rights of co-parents to visit or pick up their child.
Unavoidable prolonged absences
If a prolonged absence of 5 days or more is unavoidable, a Independent Study Contract can be provided. Contact the office one week prior to the expected absence to make the necessary arrangements.