Oak Park High School

School Attendance

Parents or guardians must call within 72 hours to clear any absence or the student will be marked truant

Oak Park High School faculty and staff are dedicated to providing a high quality instructional environment where class time and the discussion, demonstrations, and presentations done in the classroom setting are considered highly valuable. If a student is not present to participate fully in the activities of the classroom, he or she cannot expect to gain the knowledge, experience, and understanding needed to assimilate the subject matter. Note: It is a student’s / parent’s responsibility to log on to “Q” regularly in order to be aware of the student’s attendance record.

Please note that a student who accumulates 8 absences in any one class per semester will be required to clear all additional absences with a medical doctor’s note or court document. Failure to provide a written excuse by a medical doctor or a court will result in the absence being recorded as UNEXCUSED.

Parents will continue to be notified of all absences on the student’s record through the automated telephone message system, which will deliver calls at approximately 5 – 7 p.m. daily. In addition, parents will be sent attendance warning letters, automatically generated by the computer system, following the third, fourth, and fifth absence in any class. Please note that good attendance alone will not automatically qualify students for passing grades.

Attendance Definitions

Excused Absence – illness, medical doctor’s appointment, court appearance, religious event; Parent must report the reason to the attendance office within 72 hours of the absence. Students will be permitted to make-up any work missed due to an excused absence. AR 5113(a) gives a detailed list of possible excused absences and the required method of verification.  All other absences are unexcused.

Unexcused Absence – An absence reported to the office within 72 hours that is NOT defined as excused. Students will be permitted to make up work from an unexcused absence. Students who accumulate excessive unexcused absences will be subject to administrative disciplinary action and may receive a grade of “FAIL” due to poor attendance in that class.  If a student receives a grade of “FAIL” due to poor attendance in any class, it will be noted on the student’s report card that the failing grade was due to poor attendance.

Examples of unexcused absences include:

• Oversleeping
• Work scheduled during class time
• Non-medical appointments
• Personal reasons ( i.e. family vacations)
• Cutting school/truancy
• Leaving class/campus early
• Leaving class/campus without properly checking out through the office
• Leaving campus at lunch without an off-campus pass
• Not returning to school after lunch.
• “Cutting” class in any way

Truancy – an absence not reported by a parent within 72 hours of the absence. Students that have a truancy on their attendance record may be required to make-up the time they missed at Saturday School. Students will be permitted to make-up work from a truancy.

Truant – Any student with 3 truancies or unexcused absences at any point within the school year.

Habitual Truant – Per Ed. Code Section 48262, a habitual truant is described as any student with 9 truancies or unexcused absences at any point within the school year. The school will report habitual truants to the School Attendance Review Board (SARB) for possible prosecution by the District Attorney for violation of compulsory attendance laws.

Tardies

Students at Oak Park High School are expected to arrive to class on time. Any student not in his/her seat when the bell rings will be considered tardy. Students arriving 15 minutes or more late for class will be considered absent for that class period. Excessive tardies, like excessive unexcused absences may result in a student receiving a grade of “FAIL” due to poor attendance. Note: There are NO excused tardies. Students are expected to review their attendance in “Q” on a regular basis in order to know how many tardies they have accumulated.

Administrative Consequences for Tardies:

In addition to classroom consequences administered by teachers for tardies one through five, students are subject to administrative consequences after the 6^th tardy. All discipline hours assigned, including Trash Pick up and Saturday school must be served by the last day of the following academic quarter or student privileges and extra-curricular participation may be suspended until the student has cleared the discipline with Administration.

• After a student has accumulated his/her 6^th tardy in any one course, three hours of discipline will be assigned.
• After a student has accumulated his/her 8^th tardy in any one course, a Saturday School will be assigned.
• After a student has accumulated his/her 10^th tardy in any one course, two Saturday Schools will be assigned.
• After a student has accumulated his/her 11^th tardy in any one course, he/she may receive a grade of “FAIL” due to poor attendance.

Parents will be notified by mail (or email) when a student receives a Saturday School Assignment.

To Avoid Absences

Because there have been changes in the way the state funds short-term independent study, we would like to discourage parents from taking students out of school for vacations or personal business. However, if your family business will occupy 5 days or more, you may request prior permission for your student to be absent through the process of SHORT-TERM INDEPENDENT STUDY. This provision in state law allows the student to be absent without penalty as long as all classwork is completed as agreed by student and teachers. The form for approval of Independent Study must be requested from the Attendance Office and completed IN ADVANCE of the planned absence. The form must be signed by all teachers, a parent, and a school official prior to the absence. A copy of work completed must be filed with the completed form in the Attendance Office no more than five days after a student’s return to all classes.

18 Year Old Students

Students who turn 18 during the school year may request a waiver form to call in their own absences and to sign themselves out of school when ill. Waiver forms must be signed by a parent or guardian, in person, at Oak Park High School. This special privilege does not exempt the student from all the policies regarding attendance at OPHS. Since compulsory education is only required until the age of 18, students who have reached the age of 18 and have excessive absences may forfeit their right to attend our comprehensive high school.

School Activities

In order to participate in an activity or athletic event, students shall be present in all scheduled classes on the date of said event. A tardy of 15 minutes or more shall be considered an absence. Note: This requirement pertains to all OPUSD students participating in OPHS activities.

Excused Absences

AR 5113(a) details the list of possible Excused Absences.  All other absences are unexcused.