As part of their December meeting, the USD 376 Board of Education approved a revision to the attendance policy at Sterling Jr/Sr High School. The policy change brings the school's attendance guidelines in alignment with state statutes, provides clarity between an excused and an unexcused absence, yet retains administrative discretion allowing administrators to exercise common sense when helping to manage the balance between school expectations and family.
The biggest change in the policy is how absences are classified: a parent or guardian authorizes an absence, while administration will make the determination as to whether an absence is excused or unexcused. In order to make those determinations, we will request a reason for each absence: illness, doctor/legal appointments, or absences approved by administration. We will also ask for documentation of appointments and may ask for documentation of other approved absences.
Another change is establishing the limitations for excused absences at nine (9) per semester, at which point the state considers a student chronically absent, which is roughly 10%. Any absences after nine will require documentation or will count as unexcused unless deemed by administration to be an unusual circumstance.
As with all policies, this one can be distilled into a couple of key points:
Communicate with the office when your student is, or is going to be, absent. Call (278-2171) or email (flickm@usd376.com) with your student's name, date, and reason for absence.
If you're in doubt, call and talk with us. Our goal isn't to play "gotcha," but to ensure our students are in school in as much as is possible.
By clicking on the links below, you can see the policy as revised, as well as a Question and Answer section that will answer many of your questions. The second link is our entire student handbook, which includes this amended policy.
As always, if you have questions, please reach out to us and we can walk through any concerns or questions with you.
Links:
REVISED POLICY, including Q&A