A telephone call or a note from either parent or guardian is necessary when a student is absent or late for any reason. Notes must be given immediately to the attendance secretary. Teachers will have a list of admits. When a student arrives late or after an absence, the student is required to report directly to class. All absences and tardies will be recorded on the report card.

Activities or Preplanned Absences

It is the student’s responsibility to notify teachers prior to being absent. Teachers may require the work to be completed and turned in prior to departure. If not requested by a teacher, students will have one (1) day to make up work for each day missed, upon return.

Absences for school-sponsored activities are excused, but students are held responsible for the work missed. In order to participate in an extracurricular activity, including practice, students must be in school during the afternoon of the date of the event or in the afternoon on the last school day prior to the activity if the activity falls on a non-school day. Exceptions may be made by the administration.

Excused Absences

Montana law states that a student is excused when absent due to:

Illness

Bereavement

Other reasons prescribed by the policies of the Board, including medical or legal appointments or family emergencies. Verification should be available prior to requesting an admit slip. School work missed during an excused absence can be made up at full credit, even those beyond ten (10) days (see Ten-Day Policy). Time allotted for make-up work is stated in each school’s student handbook.

Unexcused Absences

Unexcused absences are not acceptable at Lame Deer Public Schools. An unexcused absence is an absence for some other reason than specified in the Activities/Preplanned Absence or Excused Absence sections or an absence for which the student did not receive prior approval from the building administrator. Each building administrator shall have the authority to determine the appropriate penalty for any student whose absence is considered unexcused.

Twelve-Day Policy

Students can accumulate twelve (12) absences each semester. This includes excused and unexcused, but does not include extracurricular absences. The student has two (2) days after the absence to provide supporting documentation that the absence was due to medical, legal, bereavement, school activities, or other acceptable reasons as approved by the building administrator. After the tenth (10^th) absence, a note from parents is not sufficient. Written notification from a medical person, legal staff, or other pertinent persons of authority, verifying the student’s reason for missing school, must be obtained by parent/student. Upon return, an excused admit will be provided if this documentation is in hand, and no penalty will be incurred. If the student does not have that documentation, an unexcused admit will be issued, and the student will have two (2) days to obtain the necessary paperwork. When the attendance office receives the proper documentation, the absence will be considered excused. The twelve (12) days are computed on a semester basis.

After the 12^th absence for students grades 9-12, the student, with his parents or guardian, will meet with the principal. An attendance contract will be drawn up which allows the student two (2) more days of unexcused absence. It the student then misses more than two days due to unexcused absences, he/she will be sent home for the rest of the semester and will receive no credit in any classes.

Tardies (accumulated by semester)

When a student arrives late in the morning, time of arrival will be noted. The student will then be sent to after school study hall to make up the time missed on the same day he/she is late. The student will use the time to work on the class work missed due to tardiness. The student will then be allowed to ride home on the activity bus.

If a student fails to make up the time that day, he/she will be expected to come in the next afternoon and make the time up. The student will be ineligible for activities and/or practice until the tardiness has been made up.

If a student fails to make up the time on a daily basis, that time will accrue to three (3) hours, at which time the student will be given ½ day of Saturday School. Time will be used to make up work in classes missed.

If a student fails or refuses to come to Saturday School and/or accrues 3 hours or more of owed time, he/she will be suspended out of school until such time as the time has been made up. The makeup could occur during regularly scheduled after school study hall, but the suspension will remain in effect until ALL back time has been made up. Absences due to suspension for failing to go to Saturday School will count toward a student’s 12 days of allowed absences.

Teachers will keep track of tardiness in five-minute increments. When tardies add up to 1 hour in a particular class, the student will be sent to after school study hall to serve 1 hour to make up the time. Athletes and activity participants who fail to go to study hall on the day assigned will not be allowed to participate in athletics until the absences are made up. The "owed" after school time will add up to a total of 3 hours (tardies will accrue from all classes) and Saturday School will be assigned.

Procedure History:

Promulgated on: 12/14/98

Revised on: 11/09/99

Revised on: 11/06/01