Attendance & Absences

Attendance

Regular, on time, daily attendance is vital to your child’s success at school; students who are on time and attend school consistently are able to participate more fully in academics, relationships with peers, and school traditions.

Parent Responsibilities

  • Ensure student arrives to school consistently and on time.

  • Plan travel on non-school days.

  • Report absences to the school office by 8:00 am. Parents have 5 school days to clear absences before it is recorded as unexcused.

  • Keep emergency contacts updated so your child can be dismissed with someone you've designated in case of illness, injury, or emergency.

To report an absence:

Call the school 650.631.5510 or email crogers@brssd.org or lmcguire@brssd.org and leave the following information.

  • Student’s first and last name

  • Teacher’s name and room number

  • Reason for the absence/tardiness

    • If absent, advise if absence will be for more than one day

    • If tardy include approximate arrival time at school

  • Your name and relationship to child

You may also notify the teacher as a courtesy, but you must notifiy the office.

Excused/Unexcused Abences

Absences for illness, medical appointments, religious reasons, or the funeral of an immediate family member (one day in state or three days out of state) are considered excused. Absences for other reasons and unreported absences are considered unexcused.

Each absence beyond 5 days must be verified by a health professional to be considered an excused absence.

Truancy

Under state regulations, a student absent three times without being excused or late three times in excess of thirty minutes is considered truant. (Note: The state allows only medical/dental appointments and illness as excused tardies.) If the truancy is not corrected, students will be referred to the San Mateo County School Attendance Review Board (SARB). For more information on truancy, please click here.

Planned Absences

Our primary focus with attendance is the safety and location of every child. Communication about a child’s planned absence helps prevent safety concerns. If you know in advance that your child will have to miss any amount of school, please be sure to notify the school office and the classroom teacher ahead of time.

Tardiness

Students are considered tardy if they are not lined up with their classmates and teacher when the bell rings. Any student arriving after the bell rings must first go to the office for a tardy slip before entering their classrooms. Since they will have been marked “absent” when attendance was taken, this procedure changes that “absent” to a “tardy”. Chronic tardies can result in letters sent home, problem-solving meetings with school personnel, and/or wellness checks from law enforcement or community agency personnel.

Appointments

We encourage you to make appointments for your children outside regular school hours if at all possible. If it is necessary for you to remove your child from school, please come first to the office to sign out your child. The child must be signed out by an adult (parent or someone authorized on the emergency card) and signed back in upon arrival back at school.

Excuse from Physical Education Instruction

Students will be excused from participation in PE only with a written excuse from a doctor or the school nurse. Parent notes will NOT excuse students from physical education.

Independent Study

Requests for independent studies are not an effective substitute for school attendance and are therefore granted only very rarely. Requests for independent study are denied for the following reasons:

  • The request is for non-emergency/Non-essential travel during the school year.

  • The period for the request is less than 5 school days.

  • The period for the request exceeds more than 10 school days in a school year

  • The independent study request falls within the first or last 20 days of the school year.

  • The independent study request was not submitted 10 days in advance of start date.

  • The student has failed to complete past independent study assignments.

  • The student is below grade level standards in Language Arts or Math.

  • The student has already been granted 3 independent study requests in grades K-8.

  • A student with disabilities, as defined in Education Code 56026, shall not participate in independent study unless his/her individualized education program specifically provides for such participation. (Education Code 51745)

  • A temporarily disabled student shall not receive individual instruction pursuant to Education Code 48206.3 by means of independent study. (Education Code 51745)