Attendance Department

The state allows excused absences for the following reasons only. Any other circumstance will have to be reviewed and acted on individually by the principal.

• Illness of the student
  
• Serious illness or death in the immediate family (mother, father, brother, sister, or grandparents)
  
• Religious holidays
  
• Conditions that make school attendance impossible or hazardous to health and safety will be announced on our local radio stations FM 95.7 and AM 1180. Trion City Schools has also implemented a Crisis Communications System to notify parents and students of school closings and emergencies.
  
• Extenuating circumstances approved by the principal prior to the absence. Parents are urged to schedule vacations during school breaks. Vacations taken while school is in session will be unexcused. Work cannot be made up, and zeros will be given. Attendance is calculated on the basis of whole-day or half-day segments.
  
• Non-school related activities must have prior approval from the principal and will be evaluated on a case by case basis depending on attendance and academic record of the student.

All notes must include the full name of the student, his/her grade, date(s) of absence(s) or early dismissal, and the reason, signature of parent or guardian, and home/work telephone number of the parent or guardian. If the note is for a doctor, dentist, etc., it should include the name of the doctor, appointment time, and telephone number of the doctor. Any time your child sees a doctor or dentist, please ask for a printed excuse for school records. This may be used as an excused note. Failure to follow these procedures could result in disciplinary action. A parent will be called any time a note is questionable. Parents are encouraged to call the office if their child is going to be absent. When a high school student returns to school following an absence, the student must report to the office and present a note from the parent or legal guardian explaining the absence before going to his/her first period class. If a student forgets to bring a note, an unexcused absence will be given. If a note from home is not brought to school within 3 days, the unexcused absence will stand. Unexcused absences will result in a zero for each missed assignment in every class.

Students are expected to be at school and in class on time. If a student is tardy more than 2 times during a 9 weeks period the following disciplinary actions will be taken. On the 3rd tardy students are required to stay in DETENTION HALL, which is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:10 until 4:00. On the 4th & 5th tardies, students will again be assigned DETENTION HALL. On the 6th and subsequent tardy, appropriate administrative action will be taken. For every 5th tardy that a student receives, an absence will be issued to the student and will count against any attendance incentives provided at THS. If a student is on campus but not in their designated area, they will be counted tardy.

We feel that routine medical appointments should be made outside the normal school hours to avoid missing class. We will require personal authorization from a parent or guardian before we will release a student from school prior to regular dismissal time.
Request for early dismissal should be presented to the school attendance clerk before the student goes to the first class. At this time, the student will receive an early dismissal slip. At the time of dismissal, the student will show the teacher the slip, get his/her books, and come to the office to be checked out. All students must check out through the attendance office.

If a student becomes ill during the school day, he/she will be sent to the school nurse. If the nurse determines the student needs to go home, a parent will be contacted.

It is a student’s responsibility to take the initiative to make up missed work as soon as they return to school if the absence is excused. The student is expected to meet with the teacher and get the make-up assignments or to schedule a make-up test at the discretion of the teacher. Students will not be allowed to make up work for an unexcused absence. Students assigned out-of-school suspension will be allowed to take major tests (unit, chapter, final exams) but cannot score higher than 70. An example of this policy is if a student scored 89 on a 100 point scale, the student would receive a 59.