Attendance

By state law, boards of education are required to adopt written policies setting forth attendance requirements.  NSA complies with all Douglas County and Colorado State policies and procedures regarding attendance.

 

Law requires school attendance for every child between ages of seven and sixteen years.  Attendance in class is an integral part of the successful educational process.  Students are required to be in attendance every day school is in session during each academic year.  Parents, guardians, and legal custodians of students between ages of seven and sixteen are obligated by law to ensure the child’s attendance.  Students who have four or more unexcused absences in a one month period, or ten or more unexcused absences from school or from class in a school year are considered to be “habitually truant” under state law.

Regular attendance is important to academic achievement.  Parents are strongly discouraged from planning vacations, trips, doctor appointments, etc. when school is in session.

An absence consists of failure to appear and remain at school throughout the entire school day unless dismissed by the proper authority. 

Students leaving early may not under any circumstance be picked up after 2:45 pm on a school day.

 

Excused absences are those resulting from: temporary or extended illness, injury or physical, mental, or emotional disability, family emergencies, absences pursuant to school release permits, or absences which occur when a student is in custody of a court or law enforcement authority.

Students are responsible to make up work covered or assigned during his/her absence.  Assignments that are not made up will negatively affect the student's grades.  Teachers are NOT obligated to have work prepared for the student beforehand as it interferes with teaching responsibilities and is often not possible due to the nature and content of the subject.  All make-up work will be assigned on the day the student returns from the absence.

 

Excused Absences Include:

• Illness (if student is absent more than 3 consecutive days, a doctor’s note is required to excuse the absence)
• Injury
• Medical procedures
• Physical, mental, or emotional disability
• Family emergencies
• Funerals

Unexcused Absences Include:

• Sporting Events
• Family vacations or visits

 

Exception:

NSA encourages families to plan carefully around school breaks and holidays when scheduling extended trips involving students.  Extended absences create a hardship for both the student and staff involved, and are more likely detrimental to the student’s academic progress.  However, NSA understands that special events or circumstances may not always fall within normally scheduled breaks, which then evokes the Elective Request Absence policy. 

Any non-medical student absence that requires a student to miss more than three (3), but less than ten (10) consecutive academic days will be designated an Elective Request Absence (ERA).  This designation implies the absence is entirely elective (the parents are making an intentional choice to allow the student to miss school for purposes of another activity or event).  Given that the absence is elective and not the direct result of a medical emergency involving the student, the absence will be recorded as “unexcused” to denote parent choice.

Under Colorado’s compulsory attendance law, absences extending beyond ten (10) unexcused days in a school year result in a student being classified as habitually truant.  Truancy negatively impacts a student’s ability to progress successfully to the next grade as extended absences significantly dilute the quality of the academic program and mastery of content.  Students with excessive absences are subject to district and state truancy laws, and NSA will enforce all Douglas County and State of Colorado laws related to student attendance.  Students absent more than 10 consecutive days may be unenrolled from North Star Academy for the duration of their absence.

Parents must provide written notification to the school (student’s teacher and attendance secretary) at least three (3) days prior to the beginning of the Elective Request Absence.  Failure to notify the school will result in a forfeiture of the 2-week make-up period and its associated benefits.  The make-up period consists of the following:

• Other than assignments available online, student work will NOT be provided by teachers ahead of time.
• Upon returning to school, students will have a two-week period to complete all missed assignments, quizzes, and tests.
• Students are eligible to receive the full percentage earned/achieved on all make-up assignments, quizzes, and tests.
• Students may complete make-up work at their own pace during the two-week period following their return, but it is the students’ responsibility to learn the missed content, request missing work assignments, and to arrange make-up tests or quizzes with the appropriate teacher(s).
• At the end of the two-week period, any missed work not completed will no longer be accepted and the student will receive a zero (0) for all missing assignments, quizzes, or tests.