[BHS etree] ADMIN: Attendance Policy, questions answered

[bhs at idiom.com]

contact:  Janet Huseby [mailto:jhuseby at pacbell.net]
As a result of a posting last week seeking help contacting families whose
>children have accumulated uncleared absences, the  etree received a number
>of questions re the attendance policy at Berkeley High.  The answers to
these questions are below:

1. If your child has been absent for a legitimate reason you must excuse
him/her within three days after he/she returns to school.

2.  To do so,  please call the Attendance Office at 644-6209.  Leave your
child's name, grade, periods missed and reason.  The next day your child
should go to the attendance office (before school, at lunch or after school)
and pick up a clearance slip.  The student then takes the slip to the
teachers whose periods he/she missed and shows it to them. There is only one
clearance slip so the student does not leave it with the first teacher as
all teachers have to look at it.

3.It is possible for a parent to clear a child's absence by sending in a
note with the same information, but the Attendance Officer prefers the
telephone call.

4. If a child has five UNEXCUSED absences in any one class, his/her grade in
that class will drop one level. (That is, from an A to a B, or a B to a C,
etc. )  Three tardies are equal to one unexcused absence.  AT THE END OF
EACH QUARTER, THE SLATE IS CLEARED.

5. If your child's grade was dropped because of unexcused absences or
tardies, it should have been noted on your child's report card.

6. The BHS automatic phone dialer  TRIES to call home every night to let
families know it their child has missed a class. However, due to the high
volume not every one is alerted for every absence. The autodialer
prioritizes calls by the number of period absences.  It can make about 140
calls hourly and stops calling at 9 p.m.

7. Parents/guardians can call the attendance office at 644-6209 to find out
how many cleared and uncleared absences their child has.

8. How do you know if your call into the attendance office went through?
That's easy.  The check is your child.  If he/she goes in the following day
and there is no clearance slip, clearly your call did not go through--though
that is rare.

______________________________
Janet Huseby and Kathryn Capps are the facilitators of the etree; please
direct any questions or concerns to them at <bhs-owner at idiom.com>

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