Sonoma Valley High School

Attendance Policy

Attendance Expectations and Tardy Policy

Attendance Office
707-933-4017

Student Attendance Student success is directly related to attendance, on time and actively engaged in learning. For this reason, SVHS expects students to be in class and ready to learn when the bell rings. On-Time Policy It is expected that students will arrive to all classes on time. The “On-Time Policy” is as follows:

A student who arrives late to any class is tardy. Late is defined as entering the class after the tardy bell has rung. A student who receives more than 3 tardies in his/her classes overall will receive a detention.
The student will serve a detention either the same day, or the next school day after the 3rd tardy.
Detentions are 30 minutes in length. Students report to the Pavilion for before school detention and to the main office for after school detention. Friday School detention is announced in the bulletin.
If a student does not report for a detention, parents will be contacted and additional consequences will be applied.
Students who intentionally cut class or who report to class late by 30 minutes or more, are considered truant, will receive detention, and may also receive an in-house suspension.
Parents/Guardians have 72 hours or 3 school days to clear an absence or tardy.
Once these detentions are issued, students and/or parents/guardians may not clear absences or tardies.
A student who has an excused tardy, ex: a doctor’s appointment, should report to the attendance office where he/she will be given a pass to class.

Attendance Matters

Absence and Truancy

Absences

Absences are excused for health reasons, family emergencies, and allowable personal reasons (juvenile detention, court appearance, funeral service, religious holiday or employment interview). If school is missed as a result of an excused absence, the student will be allowed to make up the school work for full credit within a reasonable time. Makeup work and tests may be reasonably equivalent to, but not necessarily identical to, the academic content missed.

Unexcused absences include, but are not limited to oversleeping, car trouble, a late ride, cutting class/school, unverified absences, and family vacations. There is no requirement for a teacher to give credit when the absence is unexcused. Teachers must inform the class and parents/guardians at the beginning of the semester if applying this Board Policy, and records shall specify the grade was given for excessive unexcused absences. When a student is absent, makeup work is assigned to ensure academic progress, not as punishment. Students are responsible for knowing when they have been marked absent in class. If it is felt an absence was marked in error, see the Attendance Specialist.

How Absences Are Excused

Parents/Guardians may excuse absences with either a note or by calling the Attendance Office at 707-933-4017 (English) 707-933-4024 (Español). Parents/Guardians have 72 hours or 3 days to clear an absence or tardy. The note or phone call must state the specific date and/or periods missed to be excused and the reason for the absence. Absences should be cleared on the day that class is missed. If a student becomes sick during school and needs to leave, he/she must sign out through the Attendance Office. A phone call or note is required. If a student leaves campus with an off-campus pass and returns the same day, first stop in the Attendance Office to time-stamp a pass for admission or readmission to class. Phone calls, messages, and notes received in the Attendance Office are logged and retained.

Truancy

Students will receive a first Truant Letter when they have 9 period cuts (or the equivalent of three full days). If a student receives a first letter he/she should review the attendance record and rectify any corrections immediately. At 12 period cuts a student will receive a second Truant Letter and likely be required to attend a School Attendance Review Team (SART) meeting with an administrator, district personnel, the counselor and the parent/guardian. At 15 period cuts a third Truant Letter will be mailed and the student may need to attend a School Attendance Review Board (SARB) meeting with a district committee. At this meeting other educational options will be discussed. If these measures are not successful the following may occur:

The District Attorney’s office may be notified and require the family’s presence at a court hearing. At the hearing parents may be fined thousands of dollars (as they are legally responsible for the student to attend school until the age of 18), be ordered to attend school with the student, require jail time for parents in extremely severe cases, or assign a probation officer. Non-compliance could put truant students in juvenile hall. If parents cannot afford to pay the fines, the student may be required to perform community service in lieu of payment.
Driving privileges may be delayed, restricted, or suspended.
Work permits may be denied or revoked.
The student may be arrested if away from home and off campus without a valid excuse.

* Please note: SART and SARB meetings are mandatory and legally required; failure to attend these meetings may escalate the truancy case to the next level.

Notification of Unverified Absences

After school on the day of an unverified absence, parents or guardians will receive a computer-generated phone call informing them that one or more teachers have marked an absence. A prompt conversation between parent/guardian and the student should be the first step followed by a call to the attendance office to verify or correct the record as needed. This computerized system does not notify which child has the absence when multiple family members attend SVHS. The system leaves a message on answering machines. A second message is sent during the weekend if the Attendance Office has not received a written excuse or a phone call. Please call daily or send a note when absent.