At Journey School, students are taught in carefully designed, complete units known as Main Lesson blocks which last 3-4 weeks each. Missing a portion of a block will affect full comprehension of that block as well as future lessons. When school is missed, rhythm is disrupted, lessons cannot be
replicated and missed work becomes a burden to complete while staying caught up on current assignments. Regular attendance is extremely important for many additional reasons, including:
• Attendance at school is mandatory by law. Note that the school is required to keep accurate attendance records. The school office must “verify” all absences with the parent, regardless of the reason. Regular attendance shows a commitment by the family to the school and to the student’s education.
• Regular attendance helps to ensure each student can reach his/her full educational potential.
• As a charter school, Journey School is accountable for overall student performance. A low attendance rate generally has a negative effect on student performance and can therefore impact the school as a whole.
• Journey School depends on student attendance for funding. When a student is absent, school funding is reduced, regardless of the reason for the absence. This can harm our education program as a whole and the educational experience for other students.
Journey School’s daily attendance goal is 100% attendance with no tardies. Each day of school is part of a sequential learning process; therefore missing a part of one day without good cause should be avoided.
Excused Absence
Absences for the following reasons will be considered excused:
• Illness or situations when a physician recommends a student miss school
• Medical, dental, optometric, or chiropractic appointments which cannot be scheduled outside
the school day
• Religious Holidays
• Court ordered absences
• Death in the student’s immediate family
• To spend time with a member of the student’s immediate family, who is an active duty member of the uniformed services and has been called to duty for, is on leave from, or has immediately returned from, deployment to a combat zone or combat support position
• Other unusual circumstances when approved by the School Director or his/her designee and requested in advance
Unexcused Absence
Absences for the following reasons will be considered unexcused:
• “Long weekends” and vacations
• Moving days (change of residence)
• Transportation problems
• Appointments for non-essential activities such as haircuts
Tardy to School
Students who arrive at school after the start of the school day are considered tardy. Tardy students must come to the office where they will be marked tardy and receive a pass that will permit them into the classroom. If a pattern of late arrival develops, administration will schedule a parent conference at which additional measures for compliance will be discussed and during which placement at the school and/or other additional actions may be considered. Excused tardies are those that are verified in writing by the director and or his/her designee.
Leaving Early/Early Departure
Students leaving school before the end of the school day must be picked up in the office and officially signed out. Please avoid picking up students before the dismissal time if at all possible. It is important to honor every class and all instructional time at Journey School. If a pattern of early
departure develops, administration will schedule a parent conference at which additional measures for compliance will be discussed and during which placement at the school and/ or other additional actions may be considered.
Please note, Journey School will send students home early from school for certain illnesses/injuries, including, but not limited to: student’s temperature is 100 degrees or higher, vomiting, pain in the chest or stomach, fainting, live nits or lice found in hair, injury other than minor cuts or bruises, etc. Please have current emergency contacts listed on your child’s Emergency Forms. Please contact the school immediately if these numbers change during the year.
Procedure for Excessive Unexcused Absences
The following procedure will be followed to manage Unexcused Absences:
• 3rd Unexcused Absence – A staff or faculty member will call home to verify the student’s attendance record, review this policy and discuss how the school can help to resolve the problem.
• 5th Unexcused Absence – A staff or faculty member will call the family to verify the student’s absence and a notice of excessive unexcused absences will be sent home and placed within the student’s cumulative record. The School Director will notify the parent that if five (5) more unexcused absences occur, the student will be disenrolled for violating this policy.
• 8th Unexcused Absence – Upon reaching eight (8) unexcused absences, the parent/guardian will receive a notification letter and will be required to meet with the School Director. It is Journey School’s intent to identify and remove all barriers to the student’s success and will explore every possible option to address student attendance issues with the family. The School Director will discuss the absence problem with the parent/guardian to work on solutions, develop strategies, discuss appropriate support services for the student and his/her family, and establish a plan to resolve the attendance issue.
• 10th Unexcused Absence – The School Director will connect with pertinent staff to determine appropriate next steps to address the unexcused absences. The goal of this policy is to have the student return to school and attend school regularly. However, the School Director may issue a letter informing the parent/guardian of Journey School’s intent to disenroll the student if student accrues ten or more unexcused absences. This letter shall be sent at least five schooldays before the effective date of disenrollment set forth in the letter. (“Five Day Letter”). The Five Day Letter will explain the parent’s/student’s due process rights to request a hearing on the School Director’s decision to disenroll the student for failure to comply with
this policy. If the parent/student does not respond to the Five Day Letter or otherwise does not elect to request a hearing, the student shall be disenrolled and notification will be sent to the district of residence. After disenrollment, the student can apply to Journey School the following school year. If Journey School does not have any enrollment capacity, the student
can participate in the admissions lottery like other applicants desiring to attend the school.
Procedure for Excessive Consecutive Unexcused Absences
Journey School will use the contact information provided by the parent/ guardian in the registration packet to reach out to families if students are absent for consecutive days without a valid excuse. If student is absent seven (7) or more consecutive school days without a valid excuse, the School Director shall consider options to address the attendance issues including, but not limited, to making calls home to discuss importance of attendance, scheduling meetings to address attendance concerns, and disenrollment in accordance with Education Code and this policy’s requirements. If Journey Schools seeks to disenroll a student, it shall provide a “Five Day Letter” as described above for a disenrollment with ten or more unexcused absences.
Procedure for Chronic Excused Absenteeism
Students who miss more than 10% of the school year for excused reasons will be asked to attend a meeting with the School Director(s) to determine what steps might be necessary to resolve the attendance issues and/or support the student during excused absences. Steps may include:
• Student Study Team
• School Attendance Review Team
• Possible Qualification under section 504
• Requirements to excuse further absences
• Home/hospital instruction
• Transitioning student into Independent Study
Procedure for Excessive Tardies and/or Early Departures
The following procedure will be followed:
• Teachers will conference with the parent if a pattern develops.
• 8th unexcused tardy and/or unexcused early departure – The School Director will call home to discuss the violations and to develop solutions.
• 15th unexcused tardy and/or early departure – The parent/guardian will receive a notification letter and will be required to meet with the School Director. It is the School’s intent to identify and remove all barriers to the student’s success and will explore every possible option to address student attendance issues with the family. The School Director will discuss the
tardiness with the parent/guardian to work on solutions, develop strategies, discuss appropriate support services for the student and his/her family, and establish a plan to resolve the attendance issue.
• 30th unexcused tardy and/or early departure – As demonstrated in this policy, Journey School’s goal is to work with families to remedy attendance concerns. However, the School Director may issue a Five Day Letter (as described above for ten or more unexcused absences) informing the parent/guardian of Journey School’s intent to disenroll the student if
the student accrues 30 unexcused tardies and/or early departures.
All attendance policies will be enforced fairly, uniformly, and consistently without regard to any protected classification, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, disability, or sexual orientation.
Reporting Absences and Tardies to School
Parents are to notify the school office of a student’s absence (regardless of the reason – excused or unexcused) as soon as possible, ideally before 9:30 am when attendance is entered. Physician, dental, counseling and other appointments should be scheduled after school hours whenever possible. If unavoidable, please notify the office and have the child attend classes both before and after the scheduled appointments. Absences will remain unexcused and accumulate as such unless they are excused for a valid reason (see above). A child’s absence may be verified/excused up to
five (5) days after your child has been absent. Absences that are not verified within the time allowed will be considered unexcused. At the school’s discretion, a physician’s statement of diagnosis may be required at any point to excuse an absence or extended absence related to illness. Generally, a physician’s statement will be requested on the 3rd consecutive day of a student’s medical absence or when a student’s total days of medical related absence reach seven (7).
Please Note: The School Director retains discretion in applying these policies to support students, including students with extenuating circumstances and/or those students receiving special education services.
