Attendance

Daily Attendance

It is important for students to be in school as much as possible. It is your responsibility to let us know when your child will be absent. 

Reasons for excused absences/tardies include: illness, serious illness or death of a family member, professional appointments, court appearances, religious observances and family vacations limited to 5 days. All medical appointments will require a note from the provider to be excused. Excessive excused absences due to illness may result in the need for a note from the doctor. Families will be notified if this is needed.

The school must receive notification for the absence to be excused within three (3) days of the absence, after that it will be considered unexcused.

When a student is absent three or more days and is able to do school work, the parent may request assignments and materials from the school office.  Students will be expected to make up the work missed within a reasonable period of time as determined by the teacher and parent.  Most often, however, all work is posted in Schoology for parents to use.

Extended Vacations

Families are allowed five (5) days of vacation per year. After the fifth vacation day, additional vacation days need to be requested at least one week in advance of the absence. These additional vacation days will be listed as unexcused until families notify the school that all work is completed. Students/parents should contact teachers and/or the teachers’ Schoology pages to get missing work information. Tests, quizzes and some activities may need to be completed after school upon the child’s return. All work must be turned in within one week of returning from the trip for the additional days to be excused.

Unexcused Absences

Westonka Public Schools will follow the Hennepin County and state guidelines for reporting students who are truant.

1. The school will inform parents in writing when we have recorded three (3) or more unexcused absences for a student. Please know that five (5) unexcused tardies equals 1 unexcused absence.
2. When the school has recorded six (6) unexcused absences, the parents will be referred to the County for a parent meeting.
3. When nine (9) unexcused absences are recorded, the parents will be referred to County officials; the absence report will be reviewed by the County and could result in a Juvenile Court hearing.

Reporting guidelines can be found on the Hennepin County Be@School page.

Examples of Unexcused Absences/Tardies: Included but are not limited to truancy, vacations (after 5 days in a school year unless approved, please see the extended vacation section) and essentially anything not listed under excused absences.  Students who are not excused and who arrive after 8:10am will be given an unexcused tardy.  Five unexcused tardies will be recorded as an unexcused absence.

The school will inform parents in writing when we have recorded three or more unexcused absences.  When a child records seven or more unexcused absences, this may be considered truancy/educational neglect.  The school must report all possible truancy/educational neglect to Hennepin County officials.

Make-Up Work When a Child is Ill

When a student is ill, the student and parents are encouraged to check their teachers’ Schoology page. The majority of assignments will be made available here. If a parent does not have access to the internet and their child has been absent for more than two days, call the office at (952) 491-8305 to request make-up work. Please call before 8 a.m. in order to give teachers plenty of time to get the homework together and to the office. It is best to pick up homework after 2:50 p.m.