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Sinagua Middle School

An IB World School

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SMS Attendance Hotline: (928) 527-5510

 

 

SMS Attendance Policies and Procedures

At Sinagua Middle School, we believe that attendance is important and contributes positively to student well-being and academic performance. Additionally, SMS adheres to the Arizona State Revised Statutes regarding school attendance. With that foundation, before the school year begins, we would like to communicate and clarify our attendance policies and procedures which constitutes our honest attempt to satisfy our attendance goals and ideals. Our first goal is that every student attends school everyday so that “Mustangs Grow Continuously," as stated in our school values. Our second goal is to help our students minimize the barriers that exist for not meeting the first goal.

 

Please take this communication as an enthusiastic invitation to partner with us this school year so that we can all ensure that we are cultivating a positive educational culture for your child. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.

 

Sincerely,

SMS Administration and Staff

Laws to know:

In Arizona, students must attend 90% of school days. In other words, students are legally permitted to miss 18 days of school each year, regardless of reason, excused or unexcused; ARS 15-803.

 

Rationale for Reporting Absences:

The overarching purpose of reporting absences to the school is for the safety of your child. We need all parties to be aware when a student is unaccounted for during school hours.

In order to help us meet our goal, we graciously ask that families:

  1. Help their kids get to school on time, everyday, to the best of their ability, within the constraints of your personal circumstances.
  2. Communicate absences to our attendance clerk everyday on the day that the absence occurs.  SMS Attendance Hotline: (928) 527-5510
  3. Review “ParentVue” periodically in order to monitor your child’s attendance marks and grades and let us know as soon as possible to clarify unknown attendance marks.
  4. Respond to the school’s communication regarding unverified absences (UNV) marks, as soon as possible, and by the following day, at the latest.

SMS policies to know:

  • If a student is not in class, they are marked as an unverified absence (UNV), until parent communication occurs.
  • If a student is late to school/class, they are marked tardy unverified (TU), until parent communication occurs, then it is changed to tardy excused (TE)
  • If a student is 10 minutes late to school/class, then the student will be marked for an unverified absence (UNV), until parent communication occurs, then it is changed to an excused absence (EXC)
  • If a student reaches beyond 18 days of total absences, regardless of reason, excused or unexcused, then FUSD refers families to the Coconino Juvenile Courts in order to receive supportive measures that may be helpful. To be clear, no punitive measures will occur, only supportive measures.

How the school helps:

  • Automated phone calls/emails will occur twice per day; once in the late morning and again in the early evening to notify parents that an unverified absence has been marked for one or more periods that day.
  • If we have not received parent communication for any unverified absences from the previous day, a manual phone call will be made from our attendance clerk to parents in order to clarify absence reasons.
  • Monthly, our attendance committee will review attendance data.
  • Monthly, students who are on pace to reach 18 or more absence for the school year, will receive further communication from the school regarding school policies and state laws.
  • At 10 total absences, regardless of reason, excused or unexcused, students will be given a case manager. A manual phone call will be made to parents in order to discuss attendance barriers and collaborate on possible solutions.
  • At 18 total absences, regardless of reason, excused or unexcused, families will be referred to the Coconino Juvenile Courts in order to receive supportive measures that may be helpful. To be clear, no punitive measures will occur, only supportive measures