Attendance
Regular attendance is essential for success in school and is required by law. The State of California’s compulsory attendance law states:
Education Code Section 48200: Each person subject to compulsory full time education… shall attend school for the full time designated…and each parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of the pupil shall send the pupil to school for the full time designated as the length of the school day as determined by the governing board of the school district in which the residence of either parent or legal guardian is located.
Children must attend school each and every day on time, unless there is a valid reason for them to be out of school. The only excused absences are for illness, medical or dental appointments, attendance at a funeral of one’s immediate family, or exclusion for failing to meet immunization requirements. All other absences will be marked “unexcused.”
When a child returns to school following an absence, a written excuse must accompany the child. The elements of an absence note must include: the absent pupil’s name; the name and signature of the person who wrote the note (and relationship to the child if other than parent of legal guardian); the date of the note; the date of the absence to which the note refers; and the reason for the absence. The absence note should be brought on the day the child returns to school. Unexplained absences are considered unexcused by the state and are recorded as unexcused absences in the student’s school records.
Arriving at school on time is also very important. Tardiness is a disruption to the tardy student, and the class as a whole. Please be aware that checking students out of school early is considered a tardy.
The Education Code (Section 8260) states: “Any pupil subject to full-time education who is absent from school without a valid excuse three days in one school year or tardy in excess of 30 minutes on each of more than three days in one school year shall be reported to the attendance supervisor…”
A pattern of excessive excused or unexcused absences, as well as habitual tardiness will be referred to the Child Welfare and Attendance Office at the Bellflower Unified School District for School Attendance Review Team (SART) action.
Our goal is for every student to be present at school 100% of the school year. We want our students to be successful and to develop the attendance and punctuality habits that will follow them into adulthood.
A written request to have a student excused from school early should be sent to the teacher on the morning of the early dismissal. The time and reason for the student leaving early should be included in the note. No child will be released to anyone who is not listed on the student’s emergency card or who is under the age of 18. No student will be allowed to leave campus without being signed out in the office by an authorized adult. Students will not be called out of class for early release during the last fifteen minutes of the day, as teachers are explaining homework and nightly expectations.
