Magnet Program

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PTA

Attendance Policy

Students are expected to be present and on time (8:00 a.m.) each school day.  Parents have the duty to monitor their student’s attendance and require their student (s) to attend school.  Parents are subject to prosecution under TEC Sec. 25.093 if their student is absent without excuse for three days or parts of days in a four week period or more than ten days or parts of days in a six month period.  Students in school at 9:45 a.m. are counted present for the day.

Parents must submit a written excuse note to the office within three days for tardiness or absence.  The excuse note must contain the student’s name, date (s) of absence, reason for absence and parent’s signature. Failure to submit an excuse note to the office for absences will make the absences count as unexcused, which could result in legal action against the parents and failure for the student.

Students with medical or dental appointments in the morning should bring a “Return to School” slip from the doctor or dentist when they arrive at school after 9:45 a.m.  In such cases, the student will not be considered absent.

Students who are observing a religious holy day on a school day must notify the school in writing and in such cases the student will not be considered absent and will be provided make-up work.

The attendance office assigned to the school may investigate any absence.  A student found guilty of misrepresenting the validity of an excuse or permit is subject to disciplinary action.

Excused Absences

The only excuses for tardiness and absences are:

• Personal illness
• Medical, dental, or psychological appointments
• Illness or death in the family
• Quarantine
• Weather or road conditions making travel dangerous
• Emergencies or unusual circumstances recognized by the principal or person designated
• Observance of religious holy days
• Health services provided to Medicare-eligible students
• School sponsored or school sanctioned activities away from the campus or at the school (no parent note required)
• H.I.S.D. or private bus breaks down (no parent note required)
• Suspensions (no parent note required)
• Competitive athletic event duly sanctioned by the national governing body for that sport as recognized by the U.S. Olympic committee
• Academically engaged time (no parent note required)

Unexcused Absences 

A student is considered to have an unexcused absence if he/she does not present a written excuse within three days for one of the reasons stated above or is away from school participating in an activity not approved by the district as excusable.  Vacations taken during non-specified school holidays are generally considered as unexcused.  The final decision rests with the building principal.

Unexcused absences may be reviewed by the School Attendance Committee in determining whether or not to grant a student credit for a class in which the student failed to meet the attendance requirement, but who met all other academic requirements for passing.

Schools shall attempt to notify parents/guardians of all unexcused absences immediately.  Any unexcused absences are to be investigated by the officer assigned to Sinclair Elementary School.  The student database automatically informs the attendance officer of excessive tardies or absences.

Unexcused absences may not be made up and the student receives a zero for the daily assignments.

Tardy Policy

School begins promptly at 8:00 a.m. each day.  Students are considered tardy at 8:05 a.m. and must report to the main office. A note is required from the parent/guardian within three days.  School officials understand that occasionally traffic, weather or oversleeping may cause a student to be late.  However, persistent tardiness will not be tolerated.

·        When a child reaches his fourth (4) tardy, a warning letter will be sent home indicating the days and times of arrival.

·        At the accumulation of the sixth (6) tardy, a parent/student/principal conference will be scheduled.

·        By the end of this conference, a plan will be developed to assist the parent in getting his/her child to school on time in a consistent manner.

The principal will have the option of:

·        Placing transfer students on a growth plan that will be monitored.  This may result in a student being returned to his/her home school at the end of the semester.

·        Requiring student to make up lost time in an after school study program.

·        Other methods as deemed appropriate during the parent/student/principal conference.