High School Attendance Policy
Philosophy
It is the belief of the Pittsfield Public School system that one of the most significant factors affecting school success is regular attendance. Time in class is essential to the growth and development of each student and time lost will limit the opportunity for uniform instructional interaction and support.
School attendance is both a right and reponsibility in the State of Massachsetts. Children have the right to attend school between the ages of five and twenty-one. Mandatory attendance applies to children between the ages of six and sixteen. Parents are ultimately responsible to ensure that their children attend school on a regular basis.
Research indicates that poor school attendance is directly linked to a decline in academic achievement. This absenteeism results in lost productivity for teachers, students and the class as a whole. This policy is guided by a desire to:
- Provide strong incentives to attend school regularly,
- Encourage the make up of missed work as a result of an absence,
- Avoid punitive measures as a reaction to excessive absenteeism,
- Create a policy that is enforceable and manageable for school staff,
- Meet federal and state requirements for attendance.
Objectives
By improving attendance and encouraging punctuality, Pittsfield Public Schools hopes to achieve the following:
- Improve scholastic performance by facilitating makeup of excessive missed work,
- Create and maintain a positive school culture,
- Place responsibility for attendance and punctuality on the students and/or their parents,
- Develop habits in students that are beneficial skills for both post-secondary education experiences and future employment,
- Track school attendance patterns in order to support all children in the City of Pittsfield through attendance improvement programs and services.
Class attendance grade policy
For the school year 2006/07, the class grade atendance policy will be communicated regularly through report cards, progress reports, letters home, phone calls, and conferences. This will be monitored by the PHS Attendance Coordinator.
Students who exceed 3 absences in a quarter (but not more than six), 6 in a semester (but not more than ten) or 12 in a year (but not more than 20) will be encouraged to participate in Attendance School. As described, Attendance School provides an opportunity for students to avoid losing credit in a semester or year.
There shall be no differentiation between excused and unexcused absence in the Pittsfield Public School System. All absences will be counted towards the quarterly and yearly totals. In the event of multiple-days absence due to medical illness, religious holiday, or bereavement, parents/guardians are encouraged to submit documentation to be reviewed by school administration within three days of the incident to be reviewed. These days may be classified as one incident (or one day) to be counted against the 3 in a quarter, 6 in a semester, and 12 in a year standard, and as such could be made up in one 30 minutes Attendance School session. In these cases it is assumed that much of the missed work would have been done during the extended absence. School based activities and field trips will be designated as field trips in Powerschool and, as such, will not count as absences. In addition, an attendance review team outlined below) shall be convened for the purposes of hearing appeals for students who fail to judiciously use the Attendance School to avoid loss of credit. The ecisions of this team, in turn, may be reviewed, upon appeal, by the building principal.
Al work missed as a redult of an absence must be completed. Students who are absent on a day on which an assignment and/or a test quiz is administered will be required to submit the assignment and/or complete the test/quiz on the day of their return. Students absent more than one day must make a specific plan with the instructor(s) will have one week, or as directed by the instructor, to submit missed class work.
At the high school level, a student who is in the Pittsfield Public School System can not be absent for more than 3 class periods each marking quarter or he/she wll receive notification that they are on pace to lost course credit. If the student has not earned a passing grade he/she wll receive an “F” regardless of days absent from class.
Students who exceed 6 absences in any semester (hlaf-year) class will automatically lose credit for the class (5 credits). Students who exceed 6 ineach semester (12 for the year) would tus lose 10 credits, the equivalent of a full year course.