Attendance

Parent or guardian responsibilities:

1. To excuse an absence, the parent or guardian will call the attendance office within 24 hours of the date of the absence at 303-982-8813.
2. After the 24-hour period, absences may only be excused by administrative approval.
3. No absences will be excused after 15 school days from the absence without a face-to-face meeting with the student’s administrator. Scheduling this meeting does not guarantee the student’s absence will be excused.
4. Eighteen-year-old students may not excuse their own absences if they are still considered dependents of their parent or guardian.

Absences will be considered excused for medical illness, family emergencies, court dates, religious holidays or prearranged school-approved activities only. The school may request a doctor’s note for excessive absences. Refer to the Jeffco Board policy JH-R.

Students will not be excused from classes to complete assignments or to prepare for other classes, including tests or projects.

Absence due to sleeping late, no alarm, car problems, traffic, etc. will not be considered an excused absence.

Time allowed to make up work is twice the number of classes or days missed (two days
allowed for make-up work for each day of absence). There may be certain class assignments and activities or performances for which students might not receive credit even if the absence is excused.

Makeup work shall be allowed following an unexcused absence:

• With the first two unexcused absences from a class, makeup work will be allowed
  for credit with one grade reduction for all work completed.
• After the first two unexcused absences from a class, makeup work will be allowed for credit with two letter grade reductions for all work completed.

When an assignment has been given with a specific due date and the student does not turn that assignment in because of an unexcused absence on the due date, the teacher will enforce the original stated expectations regarding grading of the assignment if it is turned in late.

When a student has missed classroom discussions or classroom work that cannot be duplicated through a simple assignment, the teacher may elect to request that the student create a method for demonstration of the learning or the teacher may elect to assign specific work to demonstrate the learning.

A student who knows in advance that they will be absent from regularly scheduled classes for more than two days should obtain a prearranged absence form from the main office. The completed form with parent signature should be turned in at least three days prior to the absence. This procedure and form is also used when the need arises for an early final exam.

Students under the age of 17 are required by state law to attend school. Administrators will initiate the truancy process and court hearings for those students who have excessive absences. Students 17 years of age and older who have excessive unexcused absences will be encouraged to seek other educational options and may be withdrawn from BCHS based on an attendance-behavior contract.

The following steps will occur in the event of student absences from school:

• The phone system will call home each evening to report absences that have not been
• excused by 3 p.m. that day.
• Administrative interventions may include parent contact, conferencing, disciplinary action and initiating truancy processes.