Attendance Policy

The following information can be found in School Board Policy Manual Policy JH:

Attendance

The board believes that regular attendance is of utmost importance for school engagement, social adjustment, and scholastic achievement. Continuity in the learning process is seriously disrupted by excessive absences. Further, regular attendance establishes a pattern of responsibility and commitment that will serve students throughout their lives, including during post-secondary education and in the workplace.

According to state law, it is the obligation of every parent/legal guardian to ensure that every child under his/her care and supervision, if of compulsory attendance age, attends school. However, the board recognizes that some absences are unavoidable and will take all reasonable, educationally sound, and corrective actions prior to resorting to the juvenile justice system.

The educational program offered by the district is predicated upon the presence of the student and requires continuity of instruction and classroom participation in order for students to achieve academic standards and consistent educational progress. Each building principal is responsible for overseeing attendance procedures and for ensuring that:

• Attendance is accurately checked, recorded, and reported each day for each class.
• All excuses for student absences, both lawful and unlawful, are recorded for each absence.
• Medical homebound instruction for students experiencing a prolonged illness or injury requiring them to be absent from school is expeditiously initiated and consistently provided.
• When excessive absences and/or tardies become a pattern, the principal or his/her designee oversees the development and implementation of a written intervention plan designed to improve student attendance habits and to link students and their families to all appropriate school and community resources in furtherance of this goal.
• When truancy continues following implementation of a written intervention plan, students are referred to the family court, and parents/legal guardians to the Department of Social Services, to address truancy issues as outlined in the administrative rule accompanying this policy.

Excuses

In order to receive one (1) Carnegie unit of credit, a student must be in attendance at least one hundred and twenty (120) hours, per unit, regardless of the number of days missed. A student must attend at least eighty-five (85) days (for a 90-day semester course) or one hundred and seventy (170) days (for a 180-day yearlong course). The board may grant approval of excessive absences in accordance with board policy.

Any student who misses school must present a written excuse, signed by his/her parent/legal guardian. The excuse will contain such other information as directed by the administration. The school administration will keep all excuses confidential. 

If a student fails to submit a valid excuse, he/she will automatically receive an unexcused absence. If a student brings a false (or forged) excuse, the student will be referred to the school administration for appropriate action.

The district will consider a student lawfully absent under the following circumstances:

• The student is ill and attendance in school would endanger his/her health or the health of others.
• There is a serious illness or death in the student’s immediate family.
• There is a recognized religious holiday of the student’s faith.
• There are prearranged absences for other reasons and/or extreme hardships at the discretion of the principal.
• The student is absent due to a certified court appearance or related court-ordered activity including, but not limited to, court-ordered treatment services.

The district will consider a student unlawfully absent under the following circumstances:

• The student is willfully absent from school without the knowledge of his/her parent/legal guardian.
• The student is absent without acceptable cause with the knowledge of his/her parent/legal guardian.

Suspension is not to be counted as an unlawful absence for truancy purposes.

Maximum Allowable Absences in Kindergarten Through Eighth Grade

Students in kindergarten through eighth grade will not be allowed more than ten (10) unlawful absences during the 180-day school year to be eligible for promotion. Principals may grant exceptions to this policy for extenuating circumstances related to lawful absences.

Maximum Allowable Absences in High School Credit Courses

In order to receive a Carnegie unit of credit for a high school course, a student must attend at least eighty-five (85) days (for a 90-day semester course) or one hundred and seventy (170) days (for a 180-day yearlong course). For the purpose of awarding academic credit for the year, school officials will approve or disapprove absences in excess of ten (10) days regardless of whether the absences are lawful, unlawful, or a combination of both.

• For the purpose of awarding academic credit for the semester, school officials will approve or disapprove absences in excess of five (5) days regardless of whether the absences are lawful, unlawful, or a combination of both.
• In order for a student to receive one Carnegie unit of credit, the student must be in attendance 120 hours per Carnegie unit, regardless of the number of days missed. Therefore, the district will make provisions to allow students enrolled in Carnegie unit courses, whose excessive absences are approved in the first bullet of this section, to make up work missed to satisfy the 120-hour requirement.

Make Up Work for Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School Students

Teachers will permit elementary, middle, and secondary school students to make up work missed during a lawful absence as long as the student or his/her parent/legal guardian makes appropriate arrangements with the teacher(s). The student must complete the make-up work within five (5) days after his/her return to school.

Truancy Intervention

Principals and their staffs are expected to make every effort to assure maximum attendance by all students. Attendance requirements as well as the procedures for dealing with absences will be made clear to all students. Each principal will assign a staff person the responsibility for monitoring attendance.

After three (3) unlawful absences, the school principal will send a letter to the parent/legal guardian explaining the attendance law and policies.

After five (5) unlawful absences, school officials will make every reasonable effort to meet with the parent/legal guardian to identify the reasons for the child’s continued absences and will develop an intervention plan in conjunction with the student and parent/legal guardian to improve future attendance. The purpose of the plan will be to link students with attendance problems and their families to all appropriate school and community resources. The student and parent/legal guardian must sign this plan which will become a part of the student’s permanent record and will be included in any future family court documents, if necessary.

After seven (7) unlawful absences, the school principal will send a letter to the parent/legal guardian explaining that he/she will notify the district attendance coordinator and furnish documentation required by the family court for truancy cases. The matter may then be referred to the court.

The board authorizes school principals to promptly approve or disapprove any student’s absence, lawful or unlawful, for more than ten (10) days.

Tardiness

If is student is persistently tardy, the principal will notify the parent/legal guardian and take appropriate disciplinary action.

The following information can be found in School Board Policy Manual Policy Administrative Rule JH-R:

Enrollment

State law requires attendance in public schools for all children who will be five years of age on or before September 1st of any school year and until he/she reaches the age of 17.

A student is officially enrolled in school on the day he/she physically reports. All students are expected to attend school for the full year, beginning with the first day of school.

The board designates the principal of the school to promptly approve or disapprove any student’s
absence of more than ten (10) days in a school year.

Unlawful Absences

A student ages six to 17 years who has three (3) consecutive unlawful absences or a total of five (5) unlawful absences is considered truant as defined by State Board of Education regulation.

A student ages 12 to 17 years who fails to comply with the school’s intervention plan and accumulates two (2) or more additional unlawful absences is considered a habitual truant.

When a student ages 12 to 17 years who has been through the school intervention process, has reached the level of a habitual truant, has been referred to family court, and has been placed on an order to attend school, and continues to accumulate unlawful absences, that student is considered a chronic truant.

Intervention

In order to encourage and assist students in attending school regularly, the administration will administer the appropriate intervention procedures. Once a student is determined to be truant, school officials will make every reasonable effort to meet with the parent/legal guardian to identify the reasons for the student’s continued absence, including
telephone calls, home visits, written messages, and emails. A written intervention plan will be developed by school administrators in conjunction with the student and the parent/legal guardian. The intervention plan must include, but is not limited to, the following: 

• a designated person to lead the intervention team (may be someone from another agency) reasons for the unlawful absences
• actions the parent/legal guardian and student will take to resolve the causes of the unlawful absences
• documentation of referrals to appropriate service providers and, if available, alternative school and community-based programs
• actions to be taken by intervention team members
• actions to be taken in the event unlawful absences continue
• signature of parent/legal guardian or evidence that attempts were made to include them
• documentation of involvement of team members
• guidelines for making revisions to the plan

School officials may utilize a team intervention approach to include representatives from social services, community mental health, substance abuse and prevention, and other persons deemed appropriate in formulating the intervention plans.

Referrals and judicial intervention

The district will not refer a child ages six to 17 years to the family court to be placed on an order to attend school prior to the written intervention plan being completed by the school with the parent/legal guardian. If the parent/legal guardian chooses not to participate, the school will develop the intervention plan in his/her absence and deliver a copy of the intervention plan to the parent/legal guardian. The district will not use a consent order from any local school or district as an intervention plan.

Refusal by the parent/legal guardian to cooperate with school intervention plans can result in a referral of the student to family court and the filing of a report against the parent/legal guardian with the South Carolina Department of Social Services in accordance with law. 

The district will inform the parent/legal guardian and/or the student of their right to have legal representation and their right to a trial. If absences continue to the point a student is classified as a habitual truant, school officials may file a petition for a school attendance order. Once a school attendance order has been issued by the family court and the student continues to accumulate absences to the point of becoming a chronic truant, school officials may refer the case back to family court. The school and district will exhaust all reasonable alternatives prior to petitioning the family court to hold the student and/or parent/legal guardian in contempt of court.

Transfer to another school

If a student transfers to another public school in the state, the district will forward the student’s truancy intervention plan to the receiving school.

Approval of Absences in Excess of 10 Days

After ten (10) lawful or unlawful absences, or a combination thereof, the principal of the school will approve or disapprove each succeeding absence.

Furthermore, in order to more fully clarify unusual or unexpected mitigating circumstances, each school principal should evaluate individually and approve the following lawful absence situations:

• family educational trips
• community and church related performing groups
• organized competitive events or related activities

Excuses

Students will be expected to present a written excuse, signed by a parent/legal guardian, certified medical practitioner, or legal officer in all cases of absence. If a student fails to bring a valid excuse to school for an absence, the student will receive an unlawful absence. A valid excuse must list the date of the absence, the date of the excuse, the reason for absence, and the telephone number and signature of the parent/legal guardian or certified medical practitioner or legal officer. The excuse must be presented to school officials no later than the student’s fifth (5th) day back at school. The school will keep the content of an excuse confidential to the extent appropriate.

Any student who fails to submit a valid excuse, within five (5) days of returning to school, will automatically receive an unexcused absence. Principals will have discretion to accept medical excuses beyond five (5) days as they determine appropriate under the circumstances. 

False or forged excuses will be referred to the school administration for appropriate disciplinary action and the absence may be considered unlawful.

Make-Up Work

Students whose absences are approved should be allowed to make up any work missed in order to satisfy the 120-hour attendance requirement. Examples of make-up work that address both time and academic requirements of a course may include after-school and/or weekend make-up programs and extended-year programs.

A student will be allowed to make up work missed during the absence as long as the student or his/her parent/legal guardian makes appropriate arrangements with the teacher(s). The student should complete the make-up work within five (5) days after his/her return to school, although the teacher may provide additional time in which to complete the work to the extent additional time is appropriate and reasonable.

All make-up time and work must be completed within thirty (30) days from the last day of the course.  The board or its designee may extend the time for a student’s completion of the requirements due to extenuating circumstances that include, but are not limited to, the student’s medical condition, family emergencies, and other student academic requirements that are considered to be a maximum load.  Make-up requirements that extend beyond thirty (30) days due to extenuating circumstances must be completed prior to the beginning of the subsequent new school year.

Proficiency-Based Credit

On a limited case-by-case basis, students who have excessive absences approved by the board may be permitted to demonstrate course proficiency without satisfying the 120-hour attendance requirement. Credits will only be awarded in this manner through a proficiency-based course credit system approved by the South Carolina Department of Education.

Earning Credit through Validation

In order to receive one Carnegie unit of credit, a student must be in attendance at least one hundred and twenty (120) hours per unit, regardless of the number of days missed. Kershaw County School District allows students to make up work that addresses both time and academic requirements of a course through the high school validation labs.

School principals will exert every realistic effort to provide assurance that this regulation is adhered to in a fair and consistent manner. Principals will place special emphasis on coordinating implementation affecting students within the same family.