Sky View High School

Sky View High School recognizes that regular attendance greatly enhances the opportunity for student learning through instruction provided by teachers. Frequent absences from the day-today classroom experience disrupt the instructional process. The benefits of instruction, once lost, cannot entirely be regained. The entire process of education requires continuity of instruction, class participation, and study.

Utah law allows parents of students enrolled in public schools to excuse their student from school, but only when the student is absent for a legitimate or valid reason such as illness, family death or a prior approved absence due to a family activity. ALL absences MUST be verified by a parent within five school days. At Sky View, we make every effort to keep parents aware of their student’s attendance habits. The school provides:
1. Online Access to Daily Attendance – A parent can track daily attendance through PowerSchool at https://powerschool.ccsdut.org
2. Daily Telephone Notification – A parent will receive daily notification of absences via telephone. Please call 563-5731 if you are not receiving these phone calls to verify we have the correct phone number.
3. Email Notification – You may also use PowerSchool to set-up daily or weekly email notifications for attendance.
4. Mail Notification – The school notifies parents by mail if a student has accumulated more than six absences in any of their classes.

FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF VERIFIED ABSENCE CODES:

Parent Verified Absence (G) A parent verified absence is defined as any absence that is excused by a parent for illness, medical appointments, family emergencies or preapproved family activities. A verified absence is coded with a (G). A parent must notify the school prior to or within five days of an absence for it to be considered verified. They may either call, email, or send a signed note to the school. Students are responsible for the completion of missed work for verified absences.

Verified Homebound (H) Homebound services are available for illness or injury that causes absence in excess of three consecutive days. Homebound services are coded with an (H). Homebound services are coordinated through the District Homebound Coordinator. Please contact the front office at 435-563-6273 if you believe your student may need homebound services.

Family Death (E) The death of a close friend or family member may result in absence from school. The parent should notify the school in this case. Absences that occur because of a family death are coded with an (E). 

School Activity (S), Administrator (O), or Counselor Visit (K) An absence that is due to an approved school activity is coded with an (S). Absences that are due to a visit with an administrator or counselor are coded with an (O), or a (K).

Excessive Verified Absences
For a student to achieve their highest level of academic achievement a student should be in school at least 90% of the time. This equates to no more than six absences per trimester per class. Excessive valid absences can impede student learning and impact the educational process. If a student’s attendance is below 90% and is seriously impacting his or her ability to learn, a school representative will make contact with the student and or parents to help resolve any issues.

TRUANCY
Truancy is any time a student is out of class without proper permission of the school or teacher and/or parent/guardian. It is a violation of state law to be absent without being excused from school. Failure to check out of school properly will result in truancy. Students who are on campus and not in their assigned area are truant.

FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF UNVERIFIED ABSENCE CODES:

Unverified Absences (A) An unverified absence is any absence that has not been verified by either a parent or the school. These absences are coded with an (A).

Truancy (Z) A student is considered “truant” if the student is absent without a valid excuse. All absences are initially coded with an (A) for unverified absence. If a student absence is not verified within five school days, a student is considered truant and the code is changed to a (Z) for truancy. Truant absences can impact the student’s grades and eligibility for extra-curricular activities.

Habitual Truancy & Legal Consequences
If a student continues to miss school without a valid excuse, they are considered habitually truant. In accordance with State Law, Sky View has established the following procedures for dealing with habitually truant behavior.
1. A student who has five days with at least one or more truancy is placed on a “Truancy Watch List”. A student conference is held where the importance of good attendance is reviewed, the attendance policy is explained, and parents are notified by letter and/or by phone. The student may also be referred to a school counselor or other staff for support.
2. If a student accumulates five additional days with at least one or more truancy (10 Total), contact is made with parents and a parent meeting is called in an effort to resolve truancy issues.
3. If a student accumulates five additional days with at least one truant absence (15 Total), a “Notice of Truancy” is sent home and a meeting with peer court is arranged.
4. If the student accumulates five additional days (20 total since the student conference), a “Habitual Court Referral” is sent to the Cache County School Board and to the parent. The Cache County School Board determines whether the student is referred to juvenile court representative.
5. If the truant behavior continues, disciplinary actions may be taken to include suspension, alternative placement, or release from public education if the student is 16 years or older. * The overall goal of consequences for truant behavior is to help confront and solve issues contributing to poor attendance.

Habitual Truancy and School Consequences
No Grades (NG) If a student is truant for at least five days within any trimester, credit is withheld. Credit may be restored in the following ways:
1. Peer Court – The student may appear in a peer court. The peer court consists of at least three of the student’s peers and a school administrator. Facts will be presented to the peer court and conditions for restoration will be determined. Once a student meets the agreed upon conditions, the NG will be restored to the grade the student earned in the class. Conditions can include, attendance probation, use of RoCK hour, school service, etc.
2. A contract with an administrator. The contract will specify the requirements for the restoration of credit and can include requirements for good attendance in a subsequent trimester, the use of RoCK Hour, completion of an online course or other education related requirements.
3. Credit Recovery – If the student fails to complete academic restoration or fails to meet the conditions of a contract or peer court, the class in question may need to be repeated to receive credit.

Graduation Ceremony
Any student who is referred to juvenile court or is eighteen years or older who has five or more days with at least one truancy in the last trimester of their senior year, may forfeit their participation in the graduation ceremony.

Appeal
Sky View High School’s attendance policy allows for a student or their parent to appeal truancies or credit loss due to extenuating circumstances. Any appeals should take place as close to the absences in question as possible as and no later than two weeks after the end of the current trimester. The process for appeal is as follows:
1. Students who have received an NG or a truancy (z) and feel there were extenuating circumstances which should be considered should complete an Appeal Form and arrange an appeal conference with the Attendance Secretary or no grades will be restored.
2. Parents should attach to the Appeal Form any information regarding dates and reasons for the student’s absence(s). Dissatisfaction with the Appeal Conference can be appealed to the Student Assistance Team. The Student Assistance Team will review

Shared Responsibility
Good attendance is a shared responsibility:

The Student Will:
1. Check grades and attendance weekly for accuracy and immediately report discrepancies to the attention of a teacher.
2. Ensure that a parent verifies all absences within 5 school days of returning to school.
3. Obtain prior approval for family activities or trips of more than 3 days.
4. Obtain from the teacher any missed work because of absences.
5. Check out/in at the attendance office before leaving/returning for any reason.
6. Be on time, attend class and be prepared each day.

The Parent/Guardian Will:
1. Verify all absences within five days of the student returning to school.
2. Monitor student’s grades/attendance through PowerSchool, phone contacts, or on-campus visits.
3. Remind student to obtain prior approval for family activities or trips of more than three days.
4. Try to schedule medical appointments and family activities outside of school time.
5. Assist student in making up missed work.
6. Attend Parent/Teacher Conferences.

The Teacher Will:
1. Provide a disclosure statement of classroom policies and grading procedures
2. Take accurate daily attendance in each class period.
3. Begin class on time.
4. Provide advance work for prior approved absences.
5. Be available to help students during RoCK Hour or before or after school.

Administrators and Counselors Will
1. Meet weekly to review students with attendance problems.
2. Act on teacher referrals.
3. Provide notification by phone and through the mail of student absences.
4. Meet with students and parents to solve continued attendance problems.

Tardies
Tardy (T) & Excused Tardy (Y) A tardy is defined as reporting to class after the bell to start class has sounded and within the first 10 minutes of class. A tardy can be excused by a parent when an emergency situation results in a student arriving at school late, or by the school when a student was delayed because of a school identified reason. Tardies may impact the student’s grade and excessive tardies can result in disciplinary action.

Check-Out
It is important for students to check-out through the Attendance Office before leaving school for the following reasons: (a) it gives documentation to a student to be off campus, and (b) it provides communication with the parent, student and school in case of an emergency. (Parents must call to check their students in or out.)

Check-In
Any student who arrives at school after the beginning of the school day, must check-in at the Attendance Office. If a student checks out, they must check back in.