Attendance Matters

Excuse notes can beemailed to Glendale.

Excellence; success; opportunity. These are all things we want for every student in Nashville’s public schools. But we can’t help our students achieve these three things if they aren’t in school. When students miss school, they miss out. Student who are in school consistently learn more, achieve higher and are more likely to graduate high school ready for their next step – and we want to help our families and students get to school every day.

As parents, we may not realize how absences add up, but students who miss school have difficulty keeping up with their peers academically and tend to fall behind in reading. Last year, 18 percent of MNPS students missed at least 18 or more school days – that’s more than 15,000 students who missed more than half a month of instructional time.

But - you can help. As parents, mentors and role models, you can help us tell our students: your attendance matters and we want to see you in school!

Tennessee State Law

Tennessee law requires children ages 6 through 17 to attend school. Attending school daily helps students succeed academically. Missing school not only leads to difficulties for a student academically, but also socially and emotionally.

If a student is found to be unlawfully absent from school and/or habitually truant, the student may be taken into custody by law enforcement personnel and transported to the Metro Student Attendance Center (M-SAC). Juvenile court may also become involved if a student is truant.

The parent or guardian of any MNPS student should consistently update address records and contact information with the school staff so the school can contact them. Any information regarding attendance and truancy will be sent home via U.S. Postal Service, email and automated phone calls.

Tip: whenever possible, plan your doctor’s appointments, trips and other obligations around the academic calendar.

What Qualifies as an Excused Absence?

Student’s personal illness
Family member’s illness that requires the student’s temporary help
Death in the family (up to three days)
Deployment of a parent or guardian serving in the military (one day for deployment, one day for return and up to 10 days when the service member is on temporary leave at home)
Head lice (up to three days per infestation)
Recognized religious holidays regularly observed by persons of the student’s faith
Court appearance or legally mandated meetings
Documented college visitations (up to three days per year for juniors and seniors)

The principal may allow the following circumstances to be considered an excused absence if the parent or guardian submits a written request:

Unexpected emergencies such as car problems
Job interview or conference
Doctor or dental appointments
Other circumstances requested in writing by the parent or guardian that the principal considers to require a student’s absence

Documenting Excused Absences

The parent or guardian of the student must send in a written note explaining why the student missed school within three days of the student’s return to school after being absent.
Because students sometimes lose notes or forget to turn them in, the parent or guardian should make sure the designated school staff in the front office has received the written excuse notes.
The parent or guardian should keep a copy of the written excuse note for personal record.
If a written excuse note is not turned in, the absence will be considered an unexcused absence.
Absences will be marked on the student’s attendance record as either excused or unexcused. The parent or guardian can request copies of the student’s attendance record from the school’s front office.

What Role does the Principal have in Deciding whether an Absence is Excused?

Every principal establishes different rules regarding excusing absences. Parents and guardians should make sure they know the attendance policy for each school that their student attends.
When a written excuse note is turned in, the principal may do the following:
Excuse an absence
Refuse to excuse an absence
Require a written or verbal explanation from the parent or guardian explaining the reason for each absence
Require other documentation that the principal thinks is appropriate to excuse the absence
Require a doctor’s statement that the student’s absences are related to an illness
Require a doctor’s statement approving the student to participate in the regular school program or extracurricular activities

Accuracy Concern?

What if there is concern about the accuracy of the student’s attendance record?

If a parent/guardian has concerns regarding the accuracy of the student’s attendance, he/she can contact the school to discuss potential discrepancies. Concerns about the student’s absences may be appealed to the school’s principal, who will make the final decision.

Late Arrivals and Early Dismissals

All instructional time is important. Arriving to school on time and staying in school all day allows students to receive all available instruction, engage in social and emotional experiences, hear important announcements, and develop positive lifelong habits. Alternately, students who arrive late or leave early miss valuable instruction time, disrupt the flow of class, distract students, and impede learning.

Every school shall establish, and communicate to parents or guardians, a schedule of consequences for students with late arrivals and early dismissals. Those consequences shall not include further loss of instructional time such as in-school suspension or out-of-school suspension.

Students must attend at least 50% of the scheduled school day to be counted present.
If a student attends less than 50% of a scheduled school day, the student will be marked as absent. A written excuse note should be submitted to the front office for this to be considered an excused absence.
Students who arrive after the designated start time
of school will be counted as tardy. A student who leaves prior to the end of school will be marked as early dismissal.
The principal will determine the time frame in which tardy students are able to go directly to class. Students are expected to get an admit slip to class from the office staff upon arriving at school.
Students will not be released from school for early dismissal without prior approval from the parent or guardian.
The names of the adults who are permitted to pick up the student from school must be documented in the student’s school file. Without prior notification from the student’s parent or guardian, a student will not be released to an adult whose name is not documented in the file.
The parent/guardian or adult whose name is listed on file will be asked to show the front office staff a picture ID for the student to be released from school.

Glendale Elementary School

Students

Information for Glendale Students

Attendance and Dress Code

School Supplies