Attendance

Attendance

One of our primary goals in the Brea Olinda Unified School District is to ensure that each child has every opportunity to achieve personal and academic excellence. On time, daily attendance is an easy way to support this goal. Because your child’s future is important we have included attendance information that you should know in terms of your legal responsibilities so that we can work together as a team to support your child.

For our elementary school families, students are considered present for the day if they are engaged in academic instruction and learning for any portion of the day. This means that a student who is sent home by the health office, due to illness or injury, is not marked absent for that day. A student is considered present for the entire day when attending any “fraction” of the scheduled school day. In order for a student to be counted as present, there must have been intent for the pupil to attend school that day. The student must have been engaged in instruction and been under the immediate supervision of a credentialed District employee.
Students who come to school solely to turn in completed work or projects or to receive work to complete are not considered present for that day of school.

Excused Absences/Tardies

The following is a list of excused absences per California Education Code 48205:

Illlness
Hospitalization
Quarantine of student by county health department
Observance of a holiday or ceremony of his or her religion
Religious retreats (shall not exceed 4 hours per trimester)
Funeral of an immediate family member (1 day if the service is in California; 3 days if the service is out of state)
Student is subpoenaed to appear in court
Attendance at an educational conference on the legislative or judicial process offered by a nonprofit organization.
Medical, Dental, optometric or chiropractic services
For the purpose of spending time with a member of the pupil’s immediate family, who is an active duty member of the uniformed services, and has been called to duty for, is on leave from, or has immediately returned from, deployment to a combat zone or combat support position.

If you are scheduling medical appointments, it is in your child’s best interest if you can make them before or after school so as not to interrupt their learning. However, we realize that this is not always possible. Therefore, if your child would receive at least one hour of instruction before or after the appointment, then your child should be in attendance at school during that time. If your child has a doctor’s appointment, they will not be excused for an entire school day.

Students who have been absent 3 or more consecutive days due to illness must present a doctor’s note verifying the illness in order for the absences to be excused. This means that up to four consecutive days may be excused with only a parent note. Starting on the 4th day of absence, there must be a doctor’s note in order for that day, or any subsequent days, to be excused.

If your family has religious beliefs that may conflict with holiday activities at your school, please discuss this, in advance, with your principal. An alternative activity will be arranged so that your child does not miss an entire day of instruction.

Unexcused Absences/Tardies
The following is a sample list of unexcused absences (this list is not exhaustive):

Conflict with students or staff
Vacations or day trips (unless on independent study)
Too tired/ woke up late
Weather: too cold, too hot, rain, wind
Lice for more than the minimum number of days to treat
Babysitting, errands, chores at home
Transportation problems: missed the bus, have no car, ran out of gas, flat tire
Didn’t do homework
Going to work with parent/family member (Unless you receive prior approval for “Take Your Child to Work” day)
Missing the whole day for a medical appointment
Waiting for service or repair people to arrive
Translating for a parent at an appointment
Personal business

Verification of Absences
Also, it is a parent/guardian’s responsibility to ensure that the appropriate school personnel receive the verification of absences. The parent/guardian should assess the maturity level of his/her child to determine if he/she should be responsible for turning in absence verifications or if it would be more secure for the parent/guardian to submit the verifications to the office or call the office directly. When students return to school after an absence, they must present a satisfactory explanation verifying the reason for the absence within four days of the date of the absence. Verifications not received during this period are considered unexcused and will not be changed.

Attendance Interventions
The Brea Olinda Unified School District has a partnership with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office to implement Truancy Response measures that include, but are not limited to:
-Providing families with county resources to support family encountering truant patterns;
-Parent District Attorney Meetings;
-Student Attendance Review Board (SARB) hearings;
-Orange County Department of Probation referrals.

Alternative Learning Experiences
Our attendance policy recognizes that students may have unique opportunities in which to participate that may occur during school hours that may include activities that promote athletic, artistic, social and/or leadership skills. The District will consider excusing a limited number of absences due to these activities each year if the parents/guardians meet with the principal and receive prior approval and the student is in good standing in regard to grades, attendance, and behavior. If these activities are pervasive and directly impact a student's educational process, alternative options may be explored that may include a referral to the BOUSD Independent Study program located on the Brea Canyon High School campus.

Please contact Baldwin Pedraza, Ed.D, Administrative Director of Special Education & Student Services, at 714-990-7820 if you have any questions or need assistance.