Attendance

Reporting an Absence:

ALL ABSENCES ARE CONSIDERED X-UNEXCUSED UNTIL REPORTED DIRECTLY TO THE ATTENDANCE OFFICE BY A PARENT OR GUARDIAN WITH AN EXCUSABLE REASON.

Ways to Report an absence:

• Call the attendance office on the day of the absence/sickness/appointment to report the reason for the absence: 804-364-8000 (option #1).
• Send a note with your student within 48 hours upon return to school.
• After the evening phone calls/texts/emails are sent, you have 24 hours to click the link using Parent Square to report the absence directly from the notifications.
• ACE/ESL Center Students: Call both Deep Run HS AND the ACE/ESL Center to report absences.
• If you are aware of an upcoming travel, college visit, medical procedure, etc, click here to complete the Principal-Approved Absence Request From for the principal to approve in advance (have your student’s schedule with you to complete the GoogleForm). Students are allowed up to 10 principal-approved absences per school year.

Remember:

• ALL absences must be reported within 48 hours of a student’s return to school in order to be eligible to be excused.
• To be counted present for a specific class, students must be present for 75% of the time (ie, 1st block = 45 minutes in class and blocks 2-7 = 67 minutes in class).
• Parents/caregivers are allowed to report a student sick up to10 days per school year. After 10 sick days, a student MUST have a doctor’s note in order to excuse the absence. Anytime you take your student to the doctor's office, be sure to ask for a note and submit it to the Attendance Office. Students who are sick but submit a doctor’s note will be coded as A (excused) rather than Ab/sick (excused) which helps to ensure that they do not reach 10 Ab/sick days.

At the beginning of the school year, please make sure that you have listed all people authorized to pick up your students on the authorized pickup list.  If you need to make changes, please do so in the PowerSchool Parent Portal. Paper forms are also available in the Counseling Office. *Note - all changes take at least 48 hours to take effect and you must contact the Counseling Office to let them know you have made changes in the PowerSchool Parent Portal.

STUDENTS WHO ARRIVE AFTER 9:00 AM TO THEIR 1st BLOCK CLASS ARE CONSIDERED TARDY TO SCHOOL.

• Excused Tardies (T):
  • A medical note from the current day
  • A note from a parent/caregiver with an excusable reason (ie, illness, medical appointment…)
• Unexcused Tardies (U):
  • A note without a valid reason (ex: traffic, car trouble; weather; missed bus are not excusable reasons…)
  • A student arrives without a note

Remember:

• Tardy Excuses will NOT be accepted by phone.
• All tardy excuse notes must be turned into the Attendance Office within 48 hours

Common Attendance Codes Used in PowerSchool

• X -- Absent Unexcused
• Abs-SICK --  Absent Sick
• A --  Absent Excused
• APA  --  Principal Approved
• U --  Unexcused Tardy
• T -- Excused Tardy
• X-PN --  Absent Unexcused
• ER --  Early Dismissal Return
• ENR – Early Dismissal No Return
• PLB -- Present Late Bus
• C -- Clinic Dismissal
• ISS -- In School Suspension
• S -- Suspension
• F -- Field Trip
• SRA --School Related Activity
• IST -- In School Testing
• R -- Religious Observation
• NS -- Not Scheduled
• EE --  Exam Exemption (Used in May)

This is a tradition, not a holiday or an excused absence, that happens the Monday after prom. Although it is not encouraged, we leave the choice of skipping up to senior students. If they choose to skip, then it is counted as an unexcused absence, and they should be fully aware of any consequences (especially with exam exemption) that may arise from their decision.

Ways to receive an early dismissal:

• Parent/caregiver or authorized contact comes to the Attendance Office BEFORE 3:30 pm with their photo ID to sign out their student.
• Parent/guardian sends a note with the student to school which includes: Student’s full name, grade, time of dismissal, date, reason for dismissal, parent/caregiver name, signature and phone number. Students must bring the note to the Attendance Office prior to 12:00pm to receive a pass to leave at the stated time.

*Please note that early dismissals are NOT accepted by phone, fax, email or text. In addition, we will not call a student out of class ahead of time. Once we have confirmed that the parent/guardian/authorized contact is on the authorized pick-up list, we will be happy to call the student from class.

*The Attendance Office closes at 3:30 pm for in-person student pick up (or 30 minutes before dismissal on half-days or early release days).

There will be a final exam in every course at the end of the school year based on content covered in the second semester. Those students who are seniors and those students in grades 9-11 who are enrolled in an AP course AND sit for the corresponding AP Exam MAY be exempt from their final exam IF the following conditions are met:

1. Cumulative course average of at least 80 when grades and other specified criteria are compiled to determine exam exemption near the end of the fourth nine weeks.
2. Maintain a minimum fourth nine-week average of 80 in the course to be exempted.
3. FULL DAY ABSENCES: The student CANNOT have been absent from the specific class more than 10 times during the school year (semester class – not more than five times). ONLY HCPS-Approved Religious Holidays and School-Related absences (field trips, school athletics, documented college visits) DO NOT count within those absences. In order to properly document a college visit a student must provide a letter/note on college letterhead proving they participated in a visit/tour. Most colleges have their own letterhead / forms that are available through the Admissions Office. This form must be turned into the Attendance Office within 48 hours of the student’s return to school.
4. If a student is unenrolled and is later re-enrolled for any reason during the school year, the absences accrued during the unenrollment period will be included in the full day absence count for exam exemption purposes.
5. TARDIES: Six unexcused daily tardies to school immediately removes the student from exam exemption eligibility IN ALL CLASSES. Six unexcused tardies to an individual class eliminates the student from exam exemption eligibility in that class. Three unexcused tardies to class equals one absence related to the exam exemption criteria.
6. The student must attend at least 75% of a class to be counted as present in that class related to exam exemption eligibility.
7. Any integrity violation which results in disciplinary action removes the student from eligibility.