Attendance Procedures Clarification

Did you know that attendance in school is one of the most important factors that impact student success?  Think about the following facts about school attendance:

• Research shows that missing as few as 18 days in a school year negatively affects a student's academic performance.  
• Over 7 million students in the U.S. miss nearly a month of school each year.
• The academic impact of missing school is the same whether the absences are excused or unexcused.

The MHHS administration is looking to cut down on the amount of absences, especially those that are unexcused absences.  We recently sent home a lengthy email to let all parents know about some of the ways we are going to emphasize the importance of attendance, and cut down on unexcused absences.  Here's a "Reader's Digest" version of what the letter says:

ATTENDANCE POLICIES

• ANY and ALL absences and tardies MUST be cleared by a parent within 72 hours of the absence.  ALL absences after this time become unexcused.
• Any student who acquires over 18 days of excused absences will be required to bring a doctor's note for future excused absences
• The following absences CANNOT be excused
• Vacations
• Oversleeping
• Parent dropped of student late
• Car trouble
• Any absence that is not cleared within 72 hours.
• CLICK HERE for the 10 excusable reasons per California State Law

CONSEQUENCES FOR UNEXCUSED ABSENCES

• 1 or more unexcused absences in any give day result in Saturday School
• Students with more than 4 Saturday Schools lose extra-curricular sport or activity privledges, work permits, and Seniors can lose off-campus lunch privileges.

SUCCESS! ATTENDANCE

• Students assigned to SUCCESS! are required to attend every day until their grade(s) get up to a B.
• Students who do not attend SUCCESS! will be assigned Detention on the very next school day.