ATTENDANCE IS A KEY FACTOR IN STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Attendance Office: (865) 429-0905

All students are expected to be present and on time each day that school is in session. Excused or unexcused admits are determined by the principal or his/her designee following school board policy:

SIGN-INS:

If a student is late (after 8:30 a.m.) to school, the parent must provide a parent note or doctor's excuse before the student is to sign-in and explain the reason. This will be considered a parent request for the absence to be excused.

CHECKING OUT:

Students will only be dismissed with a person who is on the student’s emergency card. No one under 18 can be on the emergency card unless it is a brother or sister. If a student needs to leave school early, the parent must call the school before the student can be dismissed. NO STUDENT is to leave campus, even before school, without checking out through the Attendance Office. There are no check-outs after 2:50 pm.

ABSENCES:

An absence is defined as missing more than 20 minutes of a class (BP602). 

• When a student returns from an absence, he/she must bring a NOTE to the attendance office before school to receive an ADMIT. At this point, the Attendance Office will take notes from those students who are in line and those will receive a pass.
• This pass is not an excused tardy. It simply means that the student has dropped their note off to the attendance office and will need to be sent back down at the end of the class period to pick up their excused or unexcused admit. 
• The absence will be recorded as unexcused until the admit is obtained. 
• All excuses/parent notes must be turned into the Attendance Office within 2 days of the student’s return to school.  Parents may call or fax the excuse if parent notes are available.
• NOTE: If unexcused absences equal more than five (5) for the entire school year, the Drop Out Prevention Coordinator will be contacted and additional steps will be taken to remedy the attendance problems per (TN Code Annotated TCA 49-6-3001).

EXCUSED ABSENCES:

• Personal Illness
• Illness of immediate of family members
• Parent request (5 per semester). After 5 parent notes, a doctor’s note is required.
• Death in family
• Extreme weather conditions
• Religious observances may also be excused
• Circumstances which in the judgment of the principal (or his/her designee) create emergencies over which the student had no control.
• School-sponsored activities are not counted as absences (activities must be approved in advance).
• NOTE: Other absences, sign-ins, and check-outs will be unexcused. (Board Policy 602)

WARNING:

Excessive Unexcused Check-Ins & Early Check Outs

BP602—If a high school student misses more than twenty minutes of a class, the student is counted absent for that class. If an early check-out and/or late check-in results in an unexcused class absence, corrective action and consequences may result.