Caloosa Middle School

Title I School

Attendance Policy for Students

Attendance Policy

Caloosa Middle School believes that students learn best when they come to school every day. Parents and students are responsible for making sure students attend daily and on-time.

Excused Absences

Absences or Tardiness may be excused for:

• Student illness (medical notes required by the principal or designee for absences exceeding five (5) consecutive days or 10 absences in a semester)
• Court appearance of the student
• Medical appointment of the student
• Pregnancy-related issues (see also Policy 5751)
• Approved school events
• Extreme conditions – Severe weather, disease outbreaks, or other major events determined by the School District that make it unsafe to attend school. (F.A.C. 6A-1.09513)
• Other pre-approved reasons by the principal
• Religious events or holidays
• Death of an immediate family member
• Appointments for a therapy service provided by a licensed health care practitioner or behavior analyst certified

Other reasons may be considered unexcused.

Reporting Absences or Tardiness

• Parents must report to the school when a student is absent
• Upload note in FOCUS Parent Portal under Absences tab
• Call the school
• Send note when child returns to school
• If a parent does not report the absence or tardy, it will be counted as unexcused

Make-Up Work

• Students with excused absences or excused tardies can make up missed work.
• They will get the number of days they were absent plus one extra day to finish the work.

Enforcing Attendance

Tardiness

• 1^st Unexcused Tardy – Minor Infraction Issued
• 2^nd & 3^rd Unexcused Tardy – Lunch Detention
• 4^th & 5^th Unexcused Tardy – After School Detention
• 6^th and subsequent Unexcused Tardy – Referral
• Tardiness to class over 10 minutes may be considered skipping and a referral may be issued.

Absences

• If a student has 5 unexcused absences in one month or 10 unexcused absences in 90 days, Caloosa’s child study team will meet with the family to help improve attendance.

• The school will send written notice to parents/guardians as escalating steps occur
• If parents still do not act, the school may involve the school social worker, the child study team, or even the courts.