Attendance Update
IMPORTANT FCPS ATTENDANCE REMINDERS AND UPDATES
Virginia requires that all children between the ages of five and eighteen be enrolled in school and attend daily. The Commonwealth of Virginia requires that every parent or guardian of a child is responsible for their child’s school attendance. A student who is absent from school for 15 consecutive days or more is withdrawn from school and must officially register again upon his or her return to school.
FCPS will communicate quickly with parents or guardians when a student does not come to school as expected. Parents should receive calls/texts/emails by 10:15 a.m. via an automated attendance calling system.
All FCPS schools are required to record daily attendance of all students. Schools follow the guidelines set forth in Regulation 2234.9 which mandates attendance definitions and reasons for excused and unexcused absences. All attendance policies and guidelines are posted on the FCPS web site. Please see the links below to access these pages.
If your child will be absent, we ask that you notify WSES as soon as possible. There are three ways to notify us:
As a school, we are required to follow the guidelines set in place by FCPS. Absences are decided using these guidelines:
Reasons for excused absences:
- illness of the student
- doctor/dental appointment
- observance of a religious holiday
- death in the family
Absences that are not excused include:
- family/student vacations
- childcare situations/non-school related activities
- missed bus / traffic / car problems
- any absence for which the parent or guardian does not have prior knowledge/consent
PRE-ARRANGED ABSENCES: Pre-arranged absences must be made at least three days before the absence occurs. A note or email stating the reason for the absence must be presented to the Attendance Secretary in the Main Office
FCPS has recently provided us with clarification on Virginia Department of Education attendance requirements which we would like to share with our community.
We will begin to use a new attendance code: Unexcused, Locally Defined (UNL). This will be used for absences where student whereabouts are known or supported by the parent, but policy or administration deems the absence unexcused.
For example:
- absence that has been called in by a parent but with no reason given
- pre-arranged absence without prior notification or justification
- absences with no hardship documented or students released for non-school activities. THIS INCLUDES FAMILY VACATIONS.
Resources:
Virginia Attendance Law
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title22.1/chapter14/section22.1-254/
FCPS Attendance Regulations:
https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/B46P9Y6398C8/$file/R2234.pdf
FCPS Attendance Information Page:
https://www.fcps.edu/attendance
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