Acceptable Reasons for an excused absence
- Participation in a district or school approved activity or program.
- Illness, health condition or medical appointment (including but not limited to medical counseling, dental or optometry.
- Family emergencies (death or illness in the family).
- Religious
or cultural purposes including observance or participation in a
religious or cultural holiday or religious instruction.
- Court or judicial proceedings.
- Post-secondary, technical school or apprenticeship program visitation or scholarship interview.
- State-recognized search and rescue activities consistent with RCW 28A,225,055.
- Absence resulting from a disciplinary/corrective action. (Short-term or long-term suspension, emergency expulsion.)
- Absence directly related to the student’s homeless status.
- Principal (or designees) and parent, guardian or emancipated youth mutually agree upon approved activity.
Consequences that include detention and loss of class credit are outlined here.
To Excuse a student:
A
parent or guardian must call the attendance office to excuse a
student’s absence or tardy. Calls must be received within 48 hours of a
student’s absence or tardy. The voice mail is available at any time of
day to leave a message. For attendance purposes a note will not be
accepted.
Attendance Office: (360) 596-7003
When arriving at voice mail, please speak clearly and include the following information in your message:
-Student name (please spell last name)
-Parent or guardian name
-Reason for the absence/Specific type of appointment (it will not be excused without a reason)
-A phone number where the parent or guardian can be reached
Removing your student during the day for an appointment
Advanced
notification to the attendance office saves disruption to the teachers,
students and staff in trying to locate the student on short notice.
- It
is very important to understand that a parent/guardian must call AND
the student must sign out/back in with the Attendance Office.
- PLEASE CALL the attendance office ahead of time to arrange those details.
- State your student’s name, spelling the last name.
- State the type of appointment: Doctor, Dentist, Legal, Professional etc….
- State the time your student needs to leave or approximate time your student will be arriving at school.
Please
make sure your student knows the time they are to sign out at the
Attendance Office. It is NOT Procedure to send reminder notes to
students in class. Your student should tell their teacher at the
beginning of class what time they need to leave. Your student then goes
to the attendance office to SIGN OUT. The attendance office confirms
that the student has prior permission to leave campus.
Athletes
Athletes have two parts to leaving and returning to campus. Along
with the Parent/Guardian calling to excuse them, they must also
provide verification of their appointment and present that to the
Athletic office to be cleared to participate.
Extended leave of absence
Any
absence over two days (not including illness) must have prior approval
through an Extended Leave of Absence form. Signatures from the Dean of
Students, Parents and teachers are all required. This process may take a
couple days to complete so please plan in advance. Forms may be
obtained in the Attendance Office or just click here
Excessive excused absences
Excessive excused absences may result in a Dr. note being required to excuse all absences (see Becca, below).
BECCA
Becca
will be filed on a student when they have reached 7 unexcused absences
in a month, 10 unexcused absences in a year, or 20 excused absences in a
year.