Attendance Policy

 

Parents and Students of Dunbar High School,

As the 2023-2024 School Year kicks off, the Attendance Committee wants to relay some very important information regarding excused and unexcused absences, school tardiness, signing out of school early, and potential credit denial for excessive abuse of the attendance policy.

SCHOOL ABSENCES

Per School District Policy 4.16 an Excused Absence consists of: Illness of the student, Illness of an immediate family member, Death in the immediate family, Religious instruction or religious holidays, Court appearances or subpoenas, Scheduled medical or dental appointments.

Dunbar High School will accept parent notes to Excuse 5 absences per semester. Beyond that, absences must be accompanied by proper documentation (Doctor/Dental notes, Hospital notes, Court subpoenas, immigration papers etc), to be marked as Excused.  Students will have 10 school days to turn in Parent notes to excuse absences. Formal documentation can be brought in at any time during the semester.

Once a student accumulates 10 Unexcused absences in a semester-per class, the student could lose academic credit for that class.  Credit denial letters will be sent at the end of the semester. Credit loss will be designated with an L next to the student’s class in which credit was lost on their official report card.

Students can earn lost credit back the following semester by keeping their Unexcused absences below 5 days for the whole semester.

TARDY DAYS AND SCHOOL SIGN OUTS

Per School District Policy 4.16, Tardiness is defined as a student not being the classroom when the class is scheduled to begin. Habitual tardiness is defined as six or more tardies to school or to an individual class per Quarter. Early Sign-Outs are defined as a parent/guardian signing out a child before the end of the school day.

Dunbar High School will no longer accept parent calls to excuse a student’s tardiness to school.

To excuse a late sign in to school, a parent must personally sign in their child in the front office, send a written note, or email [email protected]

Emails  need  to  include  parent / guardian name  and  contact  number  for  verification.

Student school hours are 7:05am-1:35pm

Students are considered tardy to school if they arrive to class after 7:05 am.

When a student is tardy to school or class, the policy is:

1st Tardy: Teacher warning

2nd Tardy: Teacher warning

3rd and Subsequent: Student referral resulting in consequences

Tardies will reset each quarter.

Dunbar High School will no longer accept parent calls for early sign outs from school; this includes during exams/state testing.

To excuse an early sign out, a parent must personally sign their child out in the front office, send a written note (that will be verified), or email [email protected] (that will be verified)

These rules apply to all DHS students, no matter their age. Students who have reached 18 years of age will follow the same rules for late sign ins and early sign outs. Extenuating circumstance will be handled on a case to case basis.

Students can earn lost credit back the following semester by keeping the tardy days and sign outs below 10 days for the whole semester.

If you have any questions, please call the Attendance office at Dunbar High School, 239-461-5322

We look forward to a terrific school year,

The DHS Attendance Committee 

Attendance

Students shall be counted in attendance if they are actually present at school at the time the attendance is taken or are away from school on a school day and engaged in an educational activity that constitutes a part of the school-approved instructional program for the student (Section 1003.23, Florida Statutes).

Attendance Standard

A. All students are expected to be on time and present each day school is open during the school year.

B. Students may not be absent from school without permission of the principal/designee.

  1. The school principal or designee is the only person authorized to excuse a student's absence.
  2. A note from a parent/guardian is a request that a student's absence be excused.
  3. When a student accumulates an excessive number of absences (5 days in a calendar month or 10 days within 90 calendar days) and additional absences occur which are caused by illness, a written statement from a physician verifying that the absence was caused by an illness may be required by the principal to be submitted by the parent/guardian (School Board Policy 4.16).

C. Habitual tardiness is defined as six (6) or more tardies to school or to an individual class per quarter.

D. For enforcement of compulsory school attendance, three unexcused tardies or unexcused early sign-outs may, at the discretion of the school principal, be considered equal to one day of absence.

Make-Up Work

A student who is absent and the absence is determined to be an excused absence, as defined by School Board Policy 4.16, is required to make up all course work missed. It is the student's responsibility to obtain assignments from the appropriate teacher(s) upon returning to class immediately following an absence. The student will be given the number of days absent plus one additional day to make up all work missed for full credit.

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