Reporting an Absence

Rio Lindo Office Phone (805) 485-3113

Juliena Alvarez, Office Manager

Rosie Campos, Support Specialist

Attend school everyday! Each day your child is absent, your child loses valuable learning experiences that cannot be made up through homework assignments.

Regular attendance is important for success and achievement.  It is also important that students arrive on time, ready to learn.  Parents are encouraged to schedule appointments for their children during after-school hours when possible to minimize intrusion on instructional time.

Acceptable Reasons for an Absence

Acceptable reasons for absences are:

1. personal illness
2. bereavement (death in the immediate family)
3. doctor or dental appointments.

Other reasons for absences may be declared unexcused.

State law requires that reasons for absences be verified by a note or telephone call.  Please send a note or call 485-3113 on the day of the absence to keep us notified.

If a note or phone call is not received, the absence will be counted as a truancy.

Monthly, trimester and annual recognition activities for students with positive attendance will be held.

How to Avoid Absences

1. Encourage your student to participate in school sports, clubs, or other after-school activities
2. Schedule doctor and dentist appointments after school
3. Schedule vacations to coincide with school holiday, breaks or summer
4. Send your student to school even if he or she complains of illness
5. Attend class with your student
6. Walk or drive your student to school
7. Reward your student for improved attendance
8. Seek help from the school if your student has poor academic skills
9. If your student constantly complains of headaches, stomachaches, or other pains, consult your doctor
10. Set reasonable bedtime rules
11. Get your student an alarm clock
12. Reserve school nights for homework, not for activities that will keep your child up late
13. Limit the use of TV, video games or online activities
14. Keep in contact with your student’s teachers, counselor and administrator
15. Attend all parent conferences, parent classes and school activities
16. Seek counseling support

• Families can make a difference. From a child’s first day of formal schooling, the family     can set the expectation that school attendance matters and absences won’t be allowed unless someone is truly sick.
• Some absences are unavoidable. We understand that children will get sick and need to stay home occasionally. The important thing is to get your children to school as often as possible.
• It’s important to establish a habit of good attendance in the early grades. That will help children do well in high school, college and at work.
• People tend to grow concerned only about students who miss consecutive days of school, but occasional absences can be just as disruptive as they can add up before you know it – just one or two days a month can add up to nearly 10 percent of the school year.
• Your children can suffer academically if they miss 10 percent of school days or about 18 days.
• It doesn’t matter if these absences are excused or unexcused. They all represent lost time in the
• classroom and a lost opportunity to learn.
• Too many absent students can affect the whole classroom, creating churn and slowing down instruction as teachers must re-teach lessons.
• Families should avoid extended vacations that require children to miss school. Try to line up vacations with the school’s schedule. The same goes for doctor’s appointments.
• Remember you can turn to the school for help. Many schools offer services for the whole family to help, for example, with issues concerning access to health care and reliable transportation.