Attendance Policies

Student Attendance Expectations

School district policy and state law require daily on time school attendance for students between the ages of 6 and 18 or until high school graduation or equivalent. 

Early Student Pick-Up

Anyone picking up students must:

• be on the emergency card
• have  photo identification 
• enter the office and personally sign-out each student

When picking up students please plan your time to comply with these requirements. 

If you are picking up your child between 11:00am and 1:00pm during our lunch periods, it can take extra time to find your child on the playground and return to their classroom for their belongings.  Please plan your time accordingly to comply with these requirements.

Daily Attendance Leads to Student Success

Studies show that there is a direct correlation between daily school attendance and high student achievement. We encourage parents and guardians to reinforce the importance of daily on time school attendance and to make
every effort to send your child to school every day. 

Did you know?

• Chronic absence in Kindergarten is associated with lower academic performance in 1st grade among all children and also could predict the lowest levels of educational achievement at the end of fifth grade. 
•  By 6th grade, missing 20% (or two months of school) is a critical warning sign of school drop-out. 
•  By 9th grade, missing 20% of school can be a better predictor of drop-out than 8th grade test scores.

Excused Absences

Notwithstanding Section 48200, a pupil shall be excused from school when the absence is:

1. Due to the pupil’s illness.
2. Due to quarantine under the direction of a county or city health officer.
3. For the purpose of having medical, dental, optometrical, or chiropractic services rendered.
4. For the purpose of attending the funeral services of a member of the pupil’s immediate family, so long as the absence is not more than one day if the service is conducted in California and not more than three days if the service is conducted outside California.

*Please refer to HUSD Annual Notification to Parents and Students 2018-2019 or the Education Code for further information.

Hayward Unified School District uses an automated program to monitor attendance and notify parents and legal guardians when students are considered truant. 

First Notification Letter To be classified as a truant, a student has had three (3) unexcused absences or three (3) tardies of 30 minutes or more. Education Code Section 48260.5 requires that the parent/guardian be notified by a letter informing them of what can occur if their child is not in school.

Second Notification Letter – Truancy Meeting If improvements in attendance have not been made, then a 2nd letter will be generated. The 2nd letter will have a time and date that you will need to meet with the Principal or Assistant Principal and Child Welfare and Attendance Outreach Worker to discuss why your student has been absent without valid reasons.

School Attendance Review Board (SARB) If all of the above has failed and your child is still not attending school, then your child will be referred for a School Attendance Review Board (SARB) hearing at Hayward Unified School District. 

Truancy Court Parents or legal guardians may be referred to Alameda County District Attorney's Office if students attendance does not improve after SARB-hearing.  By state law, if a child is truant, a parent or guardian can be held legally responsible. The DA's office is dedicated to working together with educators, school administrators, law enforcement, health professionals and community based organizations to ensure that our youth attend school every day and graduate ready to succeed in college and work.

Students are expected to be at their classroom and prepared for instruction when the bell rings. Students who are tardy to class interrupt the teacher's instructional plan and the learning process for all students. In order to benefit fully from the instructional program, students must be on time every day. Below are example of excused and unexcused tardies.

Short-term Independent Study

Short term Independent Study (IS) needs to be a minimum of 5 days.

Grades K-3 One week (5 days)

Grades 4-6 Two weeks (10 days)

• Independent Study is voluntary, it cannot be required.
• To be eligible for an Independent Study contract, a student must have satisfactory academic progress and attendance.
• Independent Study maybe denied if:
  • Student has 5 or more unexcused absence
  • Student has missed more than 10% of school and is Chronically Absent (Federal). 
• Independent Study may not be approved the first and the last week of school. All finals must be taken at the school site.
• Independent Study requests must be made at least one week in advance by the parent/legal guardian with student’s assigned teacher.  Teachers need at least five working days to prepare an independent study packet. 
• After the parent/legal guardian inquire about Independent Study with their child’s teacher, parents are required to complete and sign the Independent Study Contract in person at the school’s office. Students, parent/guardian, teacher and principal all must sign the contract in advance for the IS to be valid.  
• If an Extension is requested (extra days), extension must be completed fully in advance of when Independent Study is to begin.
• Hayward District-Student and Family Services must approve all extensions; Principal and Assistant Principal may not authorize extensions as it will not be acceptable to auditors and ADA will be disallowed.
• Independent Study packets are designed by your student’s teacher; it may contain reading assignments, worksheets, and/or a writing assignment based on work being completed in class.
• Upon agreement that all assigned work will be turned in on the first day of the student’s return to school. There is no makeup time allowed. Teachers must sign/date all assignments when received and initial credit granted. Assignments given to student should be written and attached to contracts.
• Assignments turned in late shall be considered "missed assignments". No attendance credit may be given for missed assignments. To receive full credit, all work in all subjects must be completed.  
• Parent and student agree that failure to complete this contract may result in unexcused absences and be referred to Student Attendance Review Board.

 

Independent Study

While students are highly discouraged from missing school for reasons other than illness, family emergencies or special events sometimes necessitate travel out of the area. In order to avoid penalties (Truancy) for missing school for these reasons, Independent Study contracts are available upon request.  They are completely voluntary, but strongly encouraged.  When a family knows in advance that a child will miss more than 5 consecutive days due to bereavement, family responsibilities, or a long-term illness or  vacation/travel, parents and guardians have the option of requesting an Independent Study packet to help students keep up with class work. Teachers report that every day a student misses class puts him or her about two days behind. This is because students must make up missed work and complete new assignments in a shorter amount of time. Keeping up with school work is important for academic success.  Students can complete all assignments, but they can never get back what’s most important; the discussions, the questions, the explanation by the teacher and the thinking that makes learning come alive.  For these reasons Park Elementary School encourages parents to avoid scheduling family trips during school days.