Coronado Unified School District

 

 

 

Good afternoon, New and Returning CUSD Parents and Guardians,

Our dedicated team of support staff, administrators, and teachers are excited to welcome your children to our schools. Please visit our district webpage (www.coronadousd.net) for information regarding individual school calendars, back to school activities, bell schedules, and general information designed to best support the transition back from summer break.

 

There have been adjustments to the reporting and recording of student attendance policies and practices that will impact our school district. As a result, we are encouraging our parent and student community to become familiar with the mandated policies that govern attendance law (CA. Ed Code), support our obligation to comply and enforce attendance policy, and understand how adhering to our district attendance procedures will support our efforts to maintain a safe, supportive, and rigorous experience for each child in our care.

If your son or daughter is absent (or tardy beyond 30 minutes) from school, the parent or guardian is obligated report the absence or tardy to the school site.  In order to ensure the safety of your child, we are asking parents and guardians to report all absences immediately - this will support our efforts in reporting timely and accurate information back to you regarding your child’s whereabouts. All absences must be excused within 24 hours by phone call or written note to the attendance clerk. After 24 hours, all absences will be coded as unexcused.  

 

Excused Absences: CA Education Code stipulates that absences can ONLY be excused for the following reasons:  personal illness; health department quarantine; medical, dental, optometric or chiropractic appointments; attendance at funeral services for an immediate family member; jury duty or any other court order requiring a personal appearance such as a subpoena; exclusion for failure to present evidence of immunization; observance of a religious holiday; attendance at a SART or SARB (Attendance Review) hearing.

Unexcused Absences/Truancy: Education Code Section 48260 states “Any pupil subject to full time education who is absent from school without a valid excuse three (3) days or tardy without a valid excuse in excess of 30 minutes on each of more than three (3) days in any one school year is a truant and shall be reported to the attendance supervisor or the superintendent of the district.”  

 

This classification and referral helps emphasize the importance of school attendance and is intended to minimize interference with instruction.

 

Notification Letters

In addition to the reporting requirement, the law states that the school district must notify the parent or guardian of a truancy by the most cost-effective method possible, and that the notification must include specific information related to the student's unexcused absence. Please review this sample letter (First Letter) (link will take you away from CUSD site)

If the attendance pattern continues and after a student has been reported as a truant three or more times, he/she will be referred to the Student Attendance Review Team regarding the excessive absences and/or tardies. In addition, the school district must attempt to meet with the student and a parent or guardian.  Please review this sample letter (Second Letter) (link will take you away from CUSD site)

 

The law further requires that after a student has been reported as a truant three or more times in one school year and after an appropriate school employee has made a conscientious effort to hold at least one meeting with the parent and the student, the student is deemed a habitual truant. Please review this sample letter (Third Letter/Habitual Truant) (link will take you away from CUSD site)

 

The CA Child Welfare and Attendance service have revised the reporting and recording of student attendance in an attempt to prevent chronic absenteeism. A "chronic absentee" has been defined in California Education Code (EC) Section 60901(c)(1) as "a pupil who is absent on 10 percent or more of the school days in the school year when the total number of days a pupil is absent is divided by the total number of days the pupil is enrolled.”

 

The Coronado Unified School District recognizes that there is no substitute for having students at school to receive instruction. We believe that parents, students, and all school personnel must be involved in the consistent, timely, and accurate reporting of pupil attendance. We strive to maximize students’ instructional time in school, as such, our students are expected to arrive at school on time, every day.

 

Thank you for your ongoing support.

 

Respectfully,  

Mr. Mueller

 

Karl J Mueller