Attendance
Attendance Policy
Daily attendance at school is an important part of your child's school success. The staff appreciates your concern and cooperation regarding building good work habits in our children. Please be aware that California law requires verification of attendance. The only legally EXCUSED absences are those for illness, medical or dental appointments, exclusion from school for lack of immunization (limited to five days), court appearances where the student is required to be present and funeral services of an immediate family member (mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, brother, sister or any relative living in the household); one day for in state and three days for out of state. All other absences are considered UNEXCUSED.
All absences have an effect on the school’s funding. We lose over $45.00 per child per day for any absence. This is the same as having a portion of the family budget decreased unexpectedly. When a district budget is cut, the school budget is cut resulting in a lack of supplies and programs.
If it is necessary for your child to miss school for any reason, please call our Central Attendance Absence Line at 661-974-8573 and leave a message or you can email Sundown School’s Attendance at sd.attendance@westside.k12.ca.us. You may call the school and the office will forward your call to the Central Attendance Absence voice mailbox, ext. 17900. You do not have to send a handwritten note with your child if you called or emailed our Central Attendance Absence Line. Absences must be excused within 4 school days.
If your child is absent for three or more days due to a medical reason, a signed doctor’s note must be bought to school with your child when he/she returns to school.
If your child will miss school for any other reason than an excused absence, please contact the school so that arrangements can be made for him/her to keep up with the necessary class work through an Independent Study Program. According to state law, Independent Study must be at least 5 days long. We require at least 5 school days notice prior to a student being assigned to Independent Study. Independent Study Agreements must be signed prior to the student leaving and all work must be returned on the date the contract ends. Please see the Independent Study section.
If parents need to pick up their child early from school, they can report to the front office for early release. Early release is greatly discouraged as it takes away from the child’s education and the education of the rest of the class as the teacher prepares that child to leave early. We DO NOT allow early release after 1:30pm unless a parent has an appointment card from their doctor (or other professional) noting the need for that early release.
EXCESSIVE ABSENCES AND TARDIES:
Students who miss more then 5 days of school each year typically don’t perform as well as those in attendance everyday. The accumulation of more than three absences a month, for any reason, is considered excessive absences. Students who are absent for significant periods of time and have not arranged to make up class assignments and/or tests may be considered for retention. Any child having 30 absences in a year, whether excused or not, will automatically be considered for retention. Students with more than 10 absences may not be referred to tutoring or Child Study Team Meetings.
TRUANCY REMINDER:
Three unexcused absences or unexcused tardies in excess of thirty minutes constitute a truancy (Ed. Code, #484631). If your child is tardy for an excused reason but does not bring in a note to the teacher/office, the tardy will be considered unexcused. We recommend that an adult come in with the child(ren) to sign him/her(them) in. This is a safety precaution. Two letters home concerning a student's tardiness and/or absences may force the school to refer the parents and student to the School Attendance Review Board (SARB). Students referred to SARB who have unexcused absences are subject to ticketing which may result in a fine and a court appearance.
TARDY POLICY
Please help your child develop good habits about punctuality by encouraging prompt arrival at school. In order for school to begin on time, all students should be on campus before 7:40 am. At 7:40 am, a bell will ring and they will line up for class. Class begins at 7:45 am. If a student is not with their class at that time, he/she is tardy. Sundown will have PE for the first 10-15 minutes of each day in addition to two 45 minute PE classes weekly in order to satisfy the state mandated PE requirements. Please have your student here on time to participate as this is part of the PE curriculum. Parents may not excuse their student for being tardy other than for reasons that would be accepted for an absence. They must bring a note for a doctor’s appointment. By law, we cannot excuse tardies due to traffic problems, a flat tire, or other unforeseen circumstances. Students are encouraged to be on campus prior to 7:30am to avoid tardies; traffic is also extremely heavy after 7:30 am. Students who report to school more than 30 minutes late do have that tardy counted towards truancy.
REVERSE TARDY POLICY
When a student is picked up early from school, before 1:55 pm dismissal time, a Reverse Tardy will be marked on the student’s attendance. If your child has a doctor or dentist appointment, please bring in a note from the doctor or dentist and the Reverse Tardy will be recorded as an Excused Reverse Tardy. To reiterate, early release is greatly discouraged as it takes away from the child’s education and the education of the rest of the class as the teacher prepares that child to leave early. We DO NOT allow early release after 1:30pm unless a parent has an appointment card from their doctor (or other professional) noting the need for that early release.
Westside Union School District is excited to present a new, simpler way to keep current with your child’s absences. With iAttendSchool® you can clear your child's absence directly from your PowerSchool Parent account.
- No more handwritten notes*, phone calls, or emails
- Submit this anytime, anywhere you have internet.
Simply log onto your PowerSchool Parent account once your child is marked absent at school, you’ll see the absence from your parent account.