ATTENDANCE
Connecticut’s Truancy Law (PA 91-303) requires parents to see that their child attends school on a regular basis. A student is "truant" if he/she has four (4) unexcused absences in one month or ten (10) unexcused absences in a year. The law requires the school to meet with the parents to review the reasons for the truancy and then to refer children to agencies providing child and family services.
Recognizing that absenteeism reflects negatively upon the quality of education received by students, the Board of Education has adopted the following policy:
1. Any student who is absent from school, or a course, for more than fifteen (15) days in any one school year will lose credit for the course or repeat the grade unless valid evidence is presented to the school administration explaining the absence. In the case of one-half year courses, the total number of absences permitted would be eight (8).
2. If a student has ten (10) unauthorized absences, a conference or telephone contact will be held with the parent to discuss the situation and to take corrective action. The conference and/or telephone conversation will be followed by a letter to the parent from the school administration. If a student taking a half-year course has five (5) unauthorized absences, the procedures will be the same as specified in this section for students taking full year courses.
3. The parent may request a meeting with the school administration at any time to discuss attendance problems. In the event a student is absent for fifteen (15) days for unauthorized reasons, the administration will notify the parent by phone, and will follow-up in writing, that the maximum number of days has been reached. This notification is to be in writing and will include the information outlined in #1 above.
4. It is the responsibility of the parents to call the school each morning to indicate the absence of their child and the reason for same. It is important upon returning to school that the student must bring a written note for an absence to be excused; otherwise, the student’s absence will be considered as an unauthorized absence.
5. The Watertown School District will accept a statement signed by a parent/guardian which indicates a specific medical problem which precluded a student from attending school as an approvable absence.
6. Excused absences shall include medical reason, bereavement, family obligations, legal reasons and other legitimate reasons as may be approved by the administration. (Policy Approved: September 14, 1998)
Monitoring:
Parent or other persons having control of the student must notify the school by 9:00 a.m. on the day of absence. A note from the responsible person must be brought to school by the student upon his/her return to school that explains the reason for the absence even if telephone contact had been made. Whenever a student fails to report to school on a regularly scheduled school day and no contact has been made by 9:00 a.m., assigned school personnel shall make a reasonable effort to notify such parent or such other person by telephone as soon as possible thereafter.
The determination of whether an absence meets the criteria for excused or unexcused will be made by the building principal or his/her designee. Parents or other persons having control of the student may appeal that decision to the Superintendent of Schools or his/her designee, whose decision shall be final.