Attendance

The Mississippi State Legislature has established the Office of Compulsory School Attendance Enforcement within the Mississippi Department of Education (effective July 1, 1998.) This office is responsible for the administration of a statewide system of enforcement of the Mississippi Compulsory School Attendance Law.

The “Compulsory-School-Age Child” is any child who has attained or will attain the age of six (6) years on or before September 1 of the calendar year and who has not yet attained the age of 17 on or before September 1 of the calendar year.

A compulsory-school-age child who is absent more than 33% of the instructional day must be considered absent the entire day. A compulsory-school-age child with documented participation in an activity authorized by the State Board of Education shall be considered present for purposes of determining and reporting attendance for average daily attendance.

When absences do occur, school personnel will classify the absence as excused or unexcused. Each of the following will constitute a valid excuse for absences of a school-age student enrolled in school, provided evidence of the excuse is provided to school personnel.

1. authorized school activities
2. illness or injury of the student, and any absence after the third consecutive day must be documented by a doctor's excuse.
3. isolation of the student by health officials
4. death or serious illness of a member of the immediate family of the student
5. medical or dental appointments
6. proceedings of a court when the student is a party to the action or is under subpoena
7. educational opportunities such as travel with the prior approval of the principal
8. other emergency or unusual conditions subject to the approval of the principal

Excused absences are granted once validated. A note, email, or fax from parents/guardians, a medical or dental excuse, or court documentation should be received within five days of the student returning to school if the absence is to be excused. Students who receive an excused absence will not be penalized in grading, provided they make up the work missed. This work must be made up immediately upon returning to school after receiving the excused absences. The amount of time for make-up work will be equal to the number of days of excused absences plus one additional day.

An unexcused absence is an absence during a school day that is not due to a valid excuse. When a student accumulates five (5) unexcused absences, a report will be made to the Attendance Officer. An out-of-school suspension is considered an unexcused absence. When the child has twelve (12) unexcused absences, the law provides that charges of “Educational Child Neglect” may be brought against the parent/guardian. Potential punishment for Educational Child Neglect is a fine of up to $1,000 and/or one (1) year in jail.

After a student has exceeded five (5) absences each semester, he/she must present a doctor’s excuse or court documentation for each additional day missed.

The school recognizes that regular attendance is important if students are to attain the maximum benefit from the educational process and develop good work habits that carry over into their adult lives. Parents and students are expected to abide by the Compulsory School Attendance Law. To support the child’s academic success, the Teacher Support Team of the school will monitor students with excessive absences. This team, with the parent, will develop a plan for encouraging and rewarding consistent school attendance. Students with excessive absences may not be eligible to attend field trips or participate in other school-sponsored activities.

KINDERGARTEN ATTENDANCE LAW

The provisions of the Mississippi Compulsory School Attendance Law are fully applicable to kindergarten-age children who have enrolled in full-day public school kindergarten. The parent shall not be allowed to un-enroll the child from the program, and such child shall be deemed a compulsory-school-age child.

TARDY AND CHECK-OUT PROCEDURES

School attendance daily is critical to a child’s academic success. Arriving at school on time and staying the entire school day is crucial to the learning process, especially at the elementary school level. Since students are engaged in learning activities the entire school day, parents are strongly encouraged to refrain from bringing a child late to school and from checking a student out of school.

The tardy bell rings at 7:35 a.m. Students are required to be at school when this bell rings. Any student arriving after this time will receive an unexcused tardy. Any student arriving at school after the tardy bell MUST be escorted into the school by a parent/guardian to obtain permission to enter class. If a student is late for school because of a doctor’s or dentist's appointment, the student must provide the attendance clerk with a doctor’s excuse when the student is signed into school. Bus students arriving late to school due to district transportation problems will not be considered tardy.

Any student withdrawn from class before the school’s dismissal time will receive an unexcused check-out. If a student is withdrawn for a doctor’s or dentist appointment, the student must provide the attendance clerk with a doctor’s excuse upon returning to school the next day. Any student who plans to check out of school before the end of the school day must have a parent or guardian come to the office and sign the check-out log. Any student who is checked out of school per the nurse’s request will be excused and the checkout log will be used as this student’s excuse. A checkout resulting from a school-sponsored event will be excused. Parents or guardians who need to check students out early must do so before 2 p.m. at the elementary and upper elementary and before 1:30 p.m. at PPS. Persons checking out a student must be listed on the authorization list provided by the parent/guardian and must present a valid picture ID.

MAKE-UP WORK

The student will be allowed to make up work following an approved absence by contacting the teacher of the class in which the work was missed. The teacher will determine when and how work shall be made up by the student.

PERFECT ATTENDANCE

Perfect attendance shall be defined and observed as no absences, no tardies and no early checkouts from school. Exceptions shall be school bus tardiness and school-sponsored field trips.

The procedures in this section shall constitute a good-faith effort by the Petal School District to comply with state law, to foster academic growth, and to establish expectations of each student at Petal High School/Petal Middle School to attend classes on a regular basis.

2.1 STATE LAW

The law requires that the superintendent, or his/her designee, report immediately to the local school attendance officer any compulsory school-age child who has not enrolled within 15 calendar days after the first day of the school year. In addition, the superintendent, or his/her designee, will report any child with five unexcused absences to the school attendance officer for appropriate consultation between the officer and parents/guardians. When the child has 12 unexcused absences, the law provides that charges of “Education Child Neglect” may be brought against the parent/guardian. Potential punishment for Education Child Neglect is a fine up to $1,000 and/or 1 year in jail. The School Attendance Officer is available to assist parents in having the children understand the importance of getting an education through our public school system.

2.2 EXCUSED ABSENCES

A compulsory-school-age child who is absent more than 33% of the instructional day must be considered absent the entire day. A compulsory-school-age child with documented participation in an activity authorized by the State Board of Education shall be considered present for purposes of determining and reporting attendance for average daily attendance.

When absences do occur, school personnel will classify the absence as excused or unexcused. Each of the following will constitute a valid excuse for absences of a school-age student enrolled in school, provided evidence of the excuse is provided to school personnel.

   1.authorized school activities.

   2. illness or injury of the student, and any absence after the third consecutive day must be documented by a doctor's excuse.

   3. isolation of the student by health officials.

   4. death or serious illness of a member of the immediate family of the student.

   5. medical or dental appointments.

   6. proceedings of a court when the student is a party to the action or is under subpoena.

   7. required religious observance or event.

   8. educational opportunities such as travel with the prior approval of the principal.

   9. other emergency or unusual conditions subject to the approval of the principal.

Excused absences are granted once validated. A note, email, or fax from parents/guardians, a medical or dental excuse, or court documentation should be received within five days of the student returning to school if the absence is to be excused. Students who are absent will not be penalized in grading, provided they make up the work missed. This work must be made up immediately upon returning to school after the absence(s). The amount of time for make-up work will be equal to the number of days absent plus one additional day.

An unexcused absence is an absence during a school day that is not due to a valid excuse. When a student accumulates five (5) unexcused absences, a report will be made to the Attendance Officer. An out-of-school suspension is considered an unexcused absence.

After a student has exceeded five (5) absences each semester, he/she must present a doctor’s excuse or court documentation for each additional day missed.

The school recognizes that regular attendance is important if students are to attain the maximum benefit from the educational process and develop good work habits that carry over into their adult life. Parents and students are expected to abide by the Compulsory School Attendance Law. To support the child’s academic success, the Teacher Support Team of the school will monitor students with excessive absences. This team, with the parent, will develop a plan for encouraging and rewarding consistent school attendance. Students with excessive absences may not be eligible to attend field trips or participate in other school-sponsored activities.

2.3 UNEXCUSED ABSENCES

Also according to state law (37-13-91), an “unlawful” absence is an absence for which the student does not have a valid excuse, including days missed because of disciplinary suspension. These absences are also called UNEXCUSED absences. If the student does not turn in an excuse on or before the second day of the student’s return to school, then the absence may be considered UNEXCUSED, The principal has the authority to review absences to determine necessary exceptions.

2.4 MAKE-UP WORK FOR ABSENCES

• The student may be allowed to make up work missed following an absence. The make-up work may be done under the following provisions:
  • The student requests make-up assignments from his/her teacher.
  • Once the teacher gives the make-up work to the student, the student has the same number of days plus an additional day to complete and turn in the work as the number of days he/she missed.
  • If a student fails to appear for an appointment for make-up work without being excused by the teacher, he/she has forfeited his right to make up work.

2.5 ASSIGNMENTS FOR EXTENDED ABSENCES

By the second day of absence, a student’s parent or guardian should call the PHS Guidance Office (601-583-4688) or the PMS office (601-584-6301) to ensure the student has access to his/her class work. These assignments may be picked up at the office or accessed through an electronic management system.

In cases of chronic, unexcused absences access to electronic management systems (i.e. Canvas) may be denied following review by counselors and/or principals.

2.6 PERFECT ATTENDANCE

Perfect Attendance shall be defined and observed as no absences, no tardiness to school and no early dismissals from school. Exceptions shall be school bus tardiness or school sponsored field trips.

2.7 TARDY POLICY

Petal Middle and Petal High Schools expect students to be on time for each class; therefore, tardies are recorded for students who fail to do so. Students will receive two documented warnings per class for a tardy, and then each tardy after that could result in the student being assigned detention or ISR and placed on the discipline ladder. Tardies will start over each nine (9) weeks.

A student is tardy if arriving at school any time after the tardy bell for first period. Any student who is tardy to school must report to the office to sign in before going to class. Only three excused tardies to school are allowed per term. Each tardy after that could result in the student being assigned detention or ISR and placed on the discipline ladder. Tardies to school will start over each nine (9) weeks.At PMS, a parent/guardian will need to walk the student to the office and sign him/her into school.

2.8 CHECK-OUT PROCEDURE

Students who check out of school early MUST present a note from their parent/guardian to the office BEFORE 9:00 a.m. on the day they are requesting early dismissal. Students approved to leave early must sign out in the office before leaving school. Unauthorized check-outs and/or leaving campus without signing out will be treated as leaving school without permission. If it is necessary for a student to leave school early and a note from the parent/guardian was not presented, the student’s parent/guardian will be required to come to the school to sign the student out. TELEPHONE CALLS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED FOR EARLY DISMISSAL OF STUDENTS . THERE WILL BE NO EARLY DISMISSAL AFTER 3:30 P.M. WITHOUT THE PRIOR APPROVAL OF THE PRINCIPAL.

Petal High School

A parent/guardian can come to the school and complete a Check-out Authorization Form that will authorize someone other than the parent guardian who is 21 years of age or older to check out the student. Excessive check-outs result in loss of instructional time and also disruptions of class.

Petal Middle School

Siblings with a valid license who are 16/17 years of age and listed as an approved checkout person may check out a student with parent approval.

2.9 EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AND ABSENCES

No student missing ten or more class periods in a course for which grades and/or credit are issued during the school year may participate in school-sponsored activities or trips unless approved by the principal and athletic/activities director. A student must be in school at least 63% of the school day in order to participate in extracurricular activities during that school day, unless special permission is granted by the principal and athletic/activities director.

2.10 TRUANCY (SKIPPING)

A student is considered truant when he or she is absent without knowledge or consent of parents and/or school officials. A student guilty of truancy will be subject to disciplinary action.

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