Daily Attendance
Open House Attendance/Residency Policy
All students must attend school 162 or more school days. This means that they can not have more than 18 absences for the school year.
Students must be in class by 8:55 AM or they will receive a late slip.
All students are required to be in school 4 hours for a full day's credit, 2 hours for a half day credit.
Students are responsible for all work that they miss during any absences. They are given 5 days to make up any work missed, any additional time is up to the teacher.
All Medical notes must be submitted to the office within 5 days of the absence and all parental notes must be submitted the day the student returns to school. If the student should accumulate 18 absences, an Attendance Review will be conducted at the end of the school year.
Ten parental notes are permitted throughout the entire calendar year and can be used for NO more than 2 consecutive days. If absent after 3 days in a row, a doctor note is required.
Early pick up is anytime after 1:30 PM, however even though this does not count towards their attendance, they will miss instructional time. This can affect their class participation grade.
Full day dismissal time is at 3:00 PM.
On a half session day it is at 1:00PM.
Please try to schedule doctor appointments for after school or on the days that school is closed.
If the nurse sends the student home, it will be considered excused.
Parents please make sure you have a photo ID available when signing out your child.
The ONLY absences that will be excused are the following:
**RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS (OBSERVED BY THE STATE) **COURT-documentation needed upon return to school
IF the Attendance Officer calls you on your child's absence and you are not aware of the child's awareness, it will be considered a Truancy matter. This means that you can be summoned to court. The first time it will be at the Principals discretion.
Vacation during school days are all UNEXCUSED absences. Parental conference with the Attendance Officer must be done before leaving, providing travel itinerary to be left on file. Traveling for more than 5 consecutive days can lead to being issued a summons to court.
No homework can be given before traveling but at the teachers discretion it can be made up after returning. It is the child's responsibility to request this upon returning to school.
Throughout the course of the year Attendance Letters are sent home. These letters MUST be signed and returned back to school. These letters generate any time the student is absent on a 5th, 10th, 15th and 18th day.
On the 10th day letter and on, a parental conference is required. This is to ensure that the parent is aware of the amount of absences accumulated.
If you should move, please make sure to notify the office right away and provide three proofs of address if it is in North Bergen. A transfer is required to be taken if you move outside of North Bergen. If any phone number changes, you must notify the office . The school must always be able to contact you in case of an emergency.
The office can request for (3) proofs of address during the school year to maintain adequate information in the system. Attendance Officers do physical residency verifications during the day and have a residency police officer that does night verifications if the Attendance Officer is unable to make physical contact.
If you need further information, please feel free to contact the Attendance/Residency Officer to schedule an appointment.
Sincerely,
Ms. Gloria Alcoser
Attendance/Residency Officer
Kennedy School 201 974-7047
McKinley School 201 974-7026