More PowerSchool questions: - East Greenbush Central School

CHS ATTENDANCE POLICY RULES: (updated 8/08)
Dear Parents/Guardians,
The East Greenbush Central School District’s Attendance Policy covers the entire school district,
from grades Kindergarten to 12 th Grade. Based on the population and curriculum of students at the
high school level, it is necessary to further clarify the Attendance Policy as it pertains to issues
pertinent to students in the upper school levels.
Please review this policy for answers to many of the questions received from Parents/Guardians
regarding their child’s attendance. If you have further questions that are not answered in this policy,
please feel free to contact the Attendance Department via email at: chessely@egcsd.org.
Thank you.
Mrs. L. Chesser
Attendance Department, CHS
EXCUSED ABSENCES:
1. Per East Greenbush Central School District’s Attendance Policy, the following absences are considered Excused:
• Personal illness up to 10 days *
• Medical appointment **
• Academic activity/program recognized or required by the school district ***
• Activity recognized by the school district to be an educationally equivalent experience (e.g.,
participation in NYSTI) ***
• Recognized religious observance (coded as R)
• Death or serious illness in family (coded as B)
• Court appearance or legal obligation
• Impassable roads
• Military obligation
• Pre-approved college visit ****
2. Per the Columbia High School Attendance Policy, the following breakdown for absences are credited as follows:
a) * Students are allowed parent-written legal absence notes (coded as ExP) for personal absences up to 10 days.
This includes but is not limited to parent-written notes for illnesses, medical appointments, acts-of-nature.
Beyond 10 days, the absence will exceed parent limit for notes and considered as Unexcused Absence (U),
pending receipt of necessary legal or medical documentation/ validation for any additional excused absences.
The documentation must state the legal reason for your child’s absence and the specific date(s) of absence. A
new note is required for each absence period.
b) ** Medical appointments (doctor, dental, etc.) documentation provided by the medical practitioner (marked as
Ex) may be submitted for as many medical visits as necessary and will be accepted on a per-visit basis.
Students are allowed 10 legal parent-written absence or tardy notes indicating medical appointment per
school year, then please note that any further absences or tardies will exceed parent limit for notes and are
considered unexcused pending receipt of legal/medical justification.
c) *** Academic activity/program recognized or required by the school or district, or recognized by the school
district to be an educational equivalent experience (e.g., P.I.G. Assembly, Field Site visits, removal from
regular classes for testing, etc.). These absences are credited as Special Day (SD) and do not count toward
the excused absence totals.
d) **** Pre-Approved College Visits (e.g., placement exams, orientation, etc.). These absences are credited as
College Visit (CV) and do not count toward the excused absence totals.

UNEXCUSED ABSENCES:
2. Per East Greenbush Central School District’s Attendance Policy, the following absences are considered Unexcused (U):
• Truancy
• At CHS and Goff, any unexcused tardiness to class beyond 10 minutes
• Personal illness beyond 10 days (For incidents of student illness beyond a total of ten days over the
course of the school year, medical documentation will be provided to the building principal so as to
determine that extenuating circumstances exist.)
• Personal and/or family vacation
• Absences for which a note is not provided within five (5) school days of student’s return
• Activity not recognized by the school district to be an educationally equivalent experience
• Other absences not listed above as “excused”
LATE ARRIVALS / TARDIES:
3. Students are allowed parent-written tardy notes (coded as TP) for personal late arrivals up to 10 days. This includes but
is not limited to parent-written notes for illnesses, medical appointments, acts-of-nature (see #1 for list of excused
absences/tardies). Beyond 10 days, the tardy will exceed parent limit for notes and considered as Unexcused Tardy
(UT), pending receipt of necessary legal or medical documentation/ validation for any additional excused tardies. The
documentation must state the legal reason for your child’s tardiness and the specific date of the late arrival. A new note
is required for each tardy date.
3. If a student desires to have Late Arrival to school on a regular basis because their first class or classes are Study Hall,
the student must be a Senior and be pre-approved through the Guidance Counselor. Students in Grades 9 through 11
must attend school for the entire school day unless pre-approved in writing through their Assistant Principal’s office.
Any student arriving late without proper documentation will be considered as Unexcused Absence pending the
documentation.
PERMISSIONS TO LEAVE EARLY:
4. When a student needs to leave school to attend a medical or dental appointment, we will accept 10 parent-written notes
excusing their child. After 10 times, we will require legal documentation of the appointment. The absence from the
missed class(es) will remain marked as Unexcused pending the receipt of documentation. We will accept a copy of the
medical visit receipt or other documentation provided on doctor letterhead. Submission of Medical documentation is
unlimited.
4. When a parent/guardian is picking up a student due to illness, the student will need to be signed out from the Health
Office to qualify for Excused absence from the missed class(es).
5. If a student desires to leave school early on a regular basis because their last class is a Study Hall, the student must be a
Senior and be pre-approved through the Guidance Counselor. Students in Grades 9 through 11 must remain in school
for the entire school day unless pre-approved in writing through their Assistant Principal’s office. Any student leaving
early without proper documentation will be considered as Unexcused Absence pending the documentation.
6. Please refer to #1 for excused reasons for absences/leaving school. Excuses not falling in one of these categories will be
taken into consideration by an Assistant Principal to determine if acceptable reason.
PERFECT ATTENDANCE:
Perfect Attendance reflects a student’s attendance at school on a daily basis throughout the school year. When a student is marked
anything other than present in Guide Room, please note that the following reasons are disregarded when determining perfect
attendance:
Special Day (SD)
Tardy (T or TP)
Field Trip (FT)
Health Office (HO)
- When a student is at a school-based educational event
- When a student is late due to a school-policy approved
reason and is covered by a legal note or medical documentation
- On a school-sponsored field trip
- At the nurse’s office

Assistant Principal (AP)
Religious (R)
Music Lessons (ML)
Guidance Office (GO)
College Visit (CV)
Bereavement (B)
- At the student’s Assistant Principal’s office
- Absent due to religious observances
- Participating in music lessons
- At the student’s Guidance Counselor’s office
- At college placement exams, orientation, etc.
- Death in family or severe illness of close family member
FULL ATTENDANCE KEY:
Ex = Excused Absence (district approved) SD = Special Day
ExP = Excused Absence (with parent note – 10 allowed) B = Bereavement
U = Unexcused Absence (w/o absence note &/or exceed 10 days) R = Religious Observance
T = Tardy (district approved) CV = College Visit
TP = Tardy (with parent note – 10 allowed) OSS = Out-of-School Suspension
UT = Unexcused Tardy (w/o legal tardy note &/or exceed 10 days) ISS = In-School-Suspension
FT = Field Trip ML = Music Lessons
HO = Health Office GO = Guidance Office
AP = Assistant Principal’s Office
Reminder: Absence excuses must be received no later than 5 days after student was out of school to receive credit. Absences
exceeding 10 days/per year require medical justification.
CONTACT NUMBERS:
To call your child in absent: 207-2000, ext. 2002
To contact the Attendance Office: 207-2043
To contact Assistant Principals: 207-2050 Mr. Ed Kilmartin, 9 th Grade
207-2040 Mr. Timothy Malloy, 10 th Grade
A-K 11 th Grade
207-5050 Mr. Martin Mahar, 12 th Grade
L-Z 11 th Grade
Guidance Office:
207-2020 (To call in for homework if absent
for 2 or more days)
Health Office:
207-2070 (When a student is absent for 5 or more consecutive days due to
illness, medical documentation from a physician’s office is
mandatory.
PHONE CALLS HOME WHEN ABSENT:
Per school district policy, a phone call is made to a student’s home or emergency contact number each time a student’s name appears
on the Daily Absentee Bulletin as not attending school.
A phone call will not be made when the parent/guardian has already called their child in as absent (see above Contact Numbers).
Please note that the phone call is to inform us of your awareness of your child’s absence. An absence note is still mandated upon your
child’s return to school.
ATTENDANCE LETTERS SENT HOME:
1. Attendance Notification Letters are sent home when a student reaches a benchmark number of days for absence/tardies
in specific classes.
ATTENDANCE COUNT GUIDELINE:
Half Year Classes:
Full Year Classes:
5 Unexcused Absences/Tardies – Receive Letter #1 10 Unexcused Absences/Tardies – Receive Letter #1
8 Unexcused Absences/Tardies – Receive Letter #2 15 Unexcused Absences/Tardies – Receive Letter #2
10 Unexcused Absences/Tardies – Receive Letter #3 20 Unexcused Absences/Tardies – Receive Letter #3
13 Unexcused Absences/Tardies – Referral to Child Study Team 26 Unexcused Absences/Tardies – Referral to Child Study Team
2. Notification letters are also sent home when a student reaches 10 absences and/or 10 tardies from school.

7. Per Section 3202.1(a) of the NYS Education Department laws, no pupil over the compulsory attendance age in his or
her school district shall be dropped from enrollment unless he or she has been absent twenty consecutive school
days and the following procedure is complied with: The principal or superintendent shall schedule and notify, in
writing and at the last known address, both the student and the person in parental relation to the student of an informal
conference. At the conference the principal or superintendent shall determine both the reasons for the pupil's absence
and whether reasonable changes in the pupil's educational program would encourage and facilitate his or her re-entry or
continuance of study. The pupil and the person in parental relation shall be informed orally and in writing of the
pupil's right to re-enroll at any time in the public school maintained in the district where he or she resides, if
otherwise qualified under this section. If the pupil and the person in parental relationship fail, after reasonable notice, to
attend the informal conference, the pupil may be dropped from enrollment provided that he or she and the person in
parental relation are notified in writing of the right to re-enter at any time, if other- wise qualified under this section.
3. Children who turn 16 during the school year must remain in school until the end of that school year, pursuant to Section
3205(3) of the Education Law.
Regular school attendance is the focus of all learning and is required of all students at Columbia High School. As noted in Columbia
High School’s Code of Conduct, the following actions are not consistent with the values stated above and are therefore subject to the
Disciplinary actions listed below. Serious or repeated violations may result in more severe consequences including a Principal’s
conference. All consequences will be applied consistently and without exception.
VIOLATION
Unexcused lateness to school
and/or Guide Rooms
(see student handbook for
definition)
(Consequences addressed
each semester separately
for students’ absences
with 3 or fewer)
Unexcused lateness to class
Unexcused class absence -
Failure to sign in
AWOL after school detention
1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd, 4 th offense
5th offense
8 th offense
11 th offense
1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd , offense
4 th offense
1 st offense
2 nd offense
3 rd offense
4 th offense
CONSEQUENCE
- Warning, parent contact after 4th offense
- Detention
- Parent contact/conference when necessary
- Possible community service
- (2 detentions or) 1 Saturday detention
- Loss of parking – 10 days
- Parent contact/conference when necessary
- Saturday detention
- Loss of parking for remainder of year
- Parent contact/conference when necessary
- Warning, parent contact after 3 rd offense
(Teacher has the right to assign detention
after 3 rd late to class)
- Referral to assistant principal
- Detention
- Parent contact/conference when necessary
- In-school suspension with detention
- Parent contact/conference when necessary
- Saturday detention
- Parent conference
- Referral to school counselor
- Possible filing of PINS petition in family court
- Saturday detention 1-5 days

1 st offense
2 nd offense
3 rd offense
- Two detentions and parent contact /conference
when necessary
- Saturday detention
- In-school suspension and detention
AWOL Saturday detention
1 st offense - Parent contact/conference when necessary
- Possible community service
- Two days off-site suspension
Forgery/lying
For example but not limited to
excuses, passes and notes
1 st offense
2 nd offense
- Parent contact/conference when necessary
- Detention
- Loss of parking – if vehicle related, 10 days
- Loss of parking for remainder of school year
- Parent contact
- In-school suspension
Students who fail to comply with any of the consequences will be considered insubordinate