Part of your child’s responsibility as a student is to attend school whenever he or she is healthy. For the sake of your child’s education, please schedule family trips and medical appointments outside of school time if at all possible. The principal will contact parents when absenteeism becomes excessive.

Reporting Student Absences: 

If your child is absent from school, please take the following steps:

1. Call the 24 hour attendance line at 952-401-5504, prior to the start of school. Report the child’s name, grade, teacher’s name, the reason for absence and length of absence. Your cooperation helps us be sure of the safety and whereabouts of each of our children.
2. If we do not hear from you and your child is absent, our nurse or health para will attempt to telephone you at home or at work. She may leave a message.
3. If you are planning a family activity and or vacation, please complete email a request to the principal prior to the event, in order to have up to a yearly total of 5 days accepted as an excused absence.
4. If a short-term family emergency arises and you cannot arrange for prior approval, the absence is unexcused but should not cause a truancy report provided the child attends school regularly.
5. If a student comes to school after 8:40am, the student is marked tardy for the morning and should stop at the office to receive a pass to class.

Attendance Policies:

• Schools are required to keep daily attendance on all students and hourly attendance records on secondary students. This data is submitted to the state as part of the Compulsory Instruction law.
• Schools are required to inform parents of what absences are excused and which absences are not excused. The law indicated that excused absences include medical and religious reasons as well as completion of the Graduation Rule requirements.
• Schools are required to make reports of child neglect and or truancy to government agencies for students with 9 or more unexcused absences per year. It is our intention to work cooperatively with families to document the reasons for a student’s absence. We know that families value other reasons beyond illness and emergencies, including vacations and celebrations. To that end, we established a process to allow up to a total of five days of family activities/vacations to be documented as an excused absence provided the parent/guardian complete a school form requesting prior approval from the principal for such absences.