Attendance
All students who have been absent must report to the office immediately upon their arrival to school following their absence, and he/she shall present an excuse signed by the parent/guardian stating the date and reason for absence.
The office will accept excuses from the following options:
1. The student presents an excuse to the office upon arrival to school following
an absence.
2. Parent/guardian may FAX an excuse to the office at 814-224-2842
3. Parent/guardian may email an excuse to the office, akeith@scsd.k12pen.com
Attendance Policy – The interpretation of tardiness and absence is based on the school code and Department of Education interpretations thereof.
All students who have been absent must report to the office immediately upon their arrival to school on the day following their absence, and he or she shall present an excuse signed by the parent or guardian stating the date of and cause for absence. This excuse is necessary even though the student may have been sent home because of illness, as the state requires that an excuse be on file to substantiate all absences. This excuse from home is exchanged at the office for an admission slip to homebase. Tardy students must also report to the office upon their arrival to school with a note from the parent or guardian explaining the reason for the tardiness. Upon returning to school, if a student does not present an excuse within three school days, the days that the student was absent will be marked as unexcused days.
Each school day consists of two sessions with 11:00 a.m. being the dividing time. Students who report to school at any time after a session has begun will be counted tardy with the number of minutes being recorded on the pupil’s attendance record.
Students who are absent for any part of a session will have the number of minutes of the absence recorded along with the reason for their absence. The times of tardiness and/or absence will be totaled into sessions of excused or unexcused absences.
No student should be absent or tardy except for legal reasons—illness, death in the family, or extreme weather conditions. In special cases the office may grant permission for absence, but the request for such exceptions must be accompanied by a note from the student’s parent. These requests should be made only when absolutely necessary.
Doctor coverage of student absence is required when a student, because of illness, has been absent three or more consecutive school days or has accumulated twenty days of absence.
Students will be excused for dental and medical appointments upon presentation of an appointment card before being excused and the return of a confirmation card showing that the appointment was kept. In order to insure the safety and welfare of students, please note that ALL STUDENTS WHO ARE TO BE EXCUSED FROM SCHOOL WHILE CLASSES ARE IN SESSION MUST BE SIGNED OUT FROM THE OFFICE BY A PARENT OR GUARDIAN.
Establishing and maintaining a good attendance record is important. Attendance letters are sent to parents when their child misses ten, fifteen and twenty days of school.