Absences 

Attendance at school is critical for students to learn and is required by law. Student absences may be excused for reasons such as illness, doctor appointments, death in the immediate family, and religious observance. If your child is absent, please do the following:

• Call Club’s Secretary (Martha Sanchez) or Data Manager (Vilma Forrester) to report the absence. Ms. Forrester's extension is 18467.
• Send a written note with your child upon his or her return to school (required within three days of returning by DPS Board Policy). The note may be in Spanish. 

Excessive unexcused absences may result in the following: letter from the principal, home visit by social worker, loss of student privileges, family attendance at Truancy Court, referral to community agencies for support, and/or involvement by the Department of Social Services. The full DPS attendance policy may be found here.

If your child is going to be absent for an Educational Opportunity, you may request that his/her absences be excused. For an absence to be excused for an educational opportunity, the intent of the experience should have been educational from the outset and should be comparable to that which the student would have experienced in school. These requests must be submitted to the Principal in advance of the absence and submitting a request does not guarantee approval. Family trips and vacations that were not initially designed to be educational will not be excused. The form for requesting Excused Absences for an Educational Opportunity may be downloaded here.

Tardies

Please be on time to school. The bell rings to start school at 7:45 am.  Late arrival to class is a distraction to the teacher and to the other students in the class.

If your student arrives to school after 7:45am, you will need to sign in at the office. Late students may not go to the classroom without a pass from the office.

Tardies can be either Excused (for doctors appointments, illness, etc.) or Unexcused.

If your child accumulates excessive numbers of Unexcused Absences or Unexcused Tardies, a conference with the counselor, social worker and/or principal may be required.

If you are having trouble getting your child to school on-time, call or stop by the office to sign up for school bus service and/or speak to our counselor or our school social worker.

Sick days / Illness at school

If your child will be out, call the front office – 919-560-3918

A missed day of school is defined as missing more than a half day of school. A written note from parent/guardian is required if a child has been absent from school.  Please send a note directly to Ms. Vilma Forrester or via email at vilma_forrester@dpsnc.net. After 5 illness absences in a row or 10 over a period of time, a principal can require a doctor’s note for any further illness absences.

After 10 absences in a semester or 20 in a year a parent may be notified in writing and per the DPS website “excessive unexcused absences may violate the compulsory attendance law (for children between 7-16) and may result in disciplinary action as provided under Policy 4301 Student Code of Conduct. Policy 4100”

If your child becomes ill at school the teacher will send the child to the office to wait to be picked up and the office will contact parents/guardians. Students who have a fever, vomit, or have diarrhea at school will be sent to the office to call for parent/guardian pick-up. This is to prevent the spread of disease. Please do not send your child to school if he or she has had a fever, has vomited, or has had diarrhea within the past 24 hours. This helps to protect the health of other students and staff.