Los Altos High School

• Students should miss no more than 9 days of school each year to stay engaged, successful and on track to graduation.
• Frequent absences can be a sign that a student is losing interest in school, struggling with school work, dealing with a bully or facing some other difficulty.
• By 9th grade, attendance is a better predictor of graduation rates than 8th grade test scores.
• Missing 10%, or 2 days a month, over the course of the school year, can affect a student’s academic success.

 

 

• Make school attendance a priority
• Talk about the importance of showing up to school every day. 
• Help your student maintain daily routines, such as finishing homework and getting a good night’s sleep.
• Try not to schedule dental and non-urgent related medical appointments during the school day.
• If your student must stay home because they are sick, make sure they have asked teachers for resources and materials to make up for the missed learning time in the classroom.

ATTENDANCE DEFINITIONS

Excused absences

Absences due to illness, health appointments, religious observances, death in the immediate family, jury duty, etc. For a complete list please see California Education Code 48205 included below.

 

Various activities might also qualify as an excused absence including AP Tests, Field trips, Student Activities, School Events, College Visits, etc. and absences at the discretion of Administration and Board of Trustees, excused absences verified by guardian.

 

Absences that happen for any reason other than the ones listed above, including family vacations and leaving campus without parent approval are considered unexcused. It is at the teacher’s discretion whether students are allowed to make up assignments and tests missed due to unexcused absences. Being more than 30 minutes late to a class is also considered an unexcused absence.

 

An absence from class from the time the bell rings until up to 30 minutes into a class period.

 

Absence for more than a 30-minute period during the school day without a valid excuse

 

REPORTING ABSENCES

The Attendance office is located at the main entrance of the new Student Services Building

Messages can be left 24 hours a day. Phone messages may be left in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, or Chinese.

When parents do not call within 3 school days the absences are counted as unexcused.

 
Absences should be reported daily, and a parent/guardian must contact the attendance office. This may be done by calling the numbers below:

Attendance 24-hr line: 650-941-2761  (English)  or  650-353-9965 (Spanish)

Attendance Office:  650-960-8811  x2024

Attendance Clerk:  Eileen Yen

 

If it is known that a student will be absent for an extended period of time (1+ week), parents/guardians should contact the student’s assistant principal.

Fabian Morales Medina – Grade 9

Derek Miyahara – Grade 10

Kristin Castillo – Grade 11

Nicolas Betancur – Grade 12

 

INFORMATION NEEDED TO REPORT AN ABSENCE:

FULL DAY ABSENCE

 

 

1-5. All of the information requested above plus

6. Period(s) student will miss

7. Time you will be picking-up your student and/or returning to campus 

8. If your student is leaving on their own, please state time to release AND method: bike, bus, car, etc.

 

We accept Attendance notifications from parents/guardians via email to lahs.attendance@mvla.net.

The message must be sent from the parent/guardian's email account that is already on file with SIS student contact information and include the information above.

 

 
Students who must leave campus during the day to attend appointments must check out through the attendance office. Parents must call or go to the attendance office beforehand to excuse these early dismissals. Please allow at least 20 minutes to call students out of class (especially if they are in P.E.). 

If a student misses a class without signing out, the student will receive an unexcused absence. 

Students who become ill or injured while at school are required to go to the attendance office so parents can be notified. Families will be expected to make appropriate arrangements for the student to leave campus.

 

If your student will be arriving late from an appointment, it is the parent/guardian’s responsibility to notify the Attendance Office. Students must come into the Attendance Office to pick up an Admission Slip to be allowed into class. Students who do not sign in will receive unexcused absences for the classes they miss that day.

 

Athletes who do not attend their academic classes may not be allowed to participate in athletic events on the same day they were absent.

 

ATTENDANCE FAQS

Family Vacations and Recreational Activities

 

Family vacations and recreational activities are not excused absences. While we are sensitive to the inconvenience to families with conflicting vacation schedules, we cannot accept these as excused absences. Contact the administration in advance if you feel your circumstances warrant an exception.

 

 

 

MVLA sends Truancy Letters to parents when students accumulate unexcused period absences. If you receive a letter that indicates that your student has an unexcused absence(s) for a period(s) when they were ill, had a medical appointment, or should have otherwise been excused, please contact the attendance office immediately.

 

 

 

The attendance office handles thousands of separate records of attendance and tardiness per year. Due to this large volume of information, we sometimes make mistakes, but we have developed a system to make corrections. We believe that it is both reasonable and useful that students be asked to follow through and seek the correction of these errors.

 

If you receive a call and your child says he or she was not absent (or was excused for a school-related reason), have your child go to the attendance office and find out which period(s) he or she was marked absent. The student must see the teacher and request that the teacher correct the error. Physician's Verification for Extended and/or Chronic IllnessesIf your student is ill for more than 3 consecutive days, a doctor's note will need to be provided to the Attendance Office upon the student's return. If a student shows a pattern of chronic absenteeism due to illness, district staff may require physician verification of any further student absences

 

 

 

If your student is absent, please have them contact their teachers for make-up work. Teachers can be emailed directly, and many assignments can be found in the learning management platforms (i.e. Google Classroom, Canvas, etc.) All email within the district is (firstname.lastname)@mvla.net.

 

Escalating Consequences for unexcused absences may include, but are not limited to truancy letters and warnings, phone calls to parents/guardians to discuss barriers to attendance and supportive measures, student conferences with school counselors, mandatory detention to recuperate lost instructional time, referral to the Afterschool Accountability Program, social probation and inability to attend school events such as Prom, assignment of online learning modules, referral to a series of attendance intervention workshops, group or individual conferencing with administration, parent and student conferring with administration, home visits, referral to the MVLA School Attendance Review Board (SARB), referral to the School Resource Officers and/or the District Attorney’s office, involuntary transfer to an alternative education program.

 

NOTIFICATIONS   

Parents/guardians have the right to excuse a student from school in order to participate in religious exercises or to receive moral and religious instruction at their places of worship, or at other suitable places away from school property designated by a religious group, church, or denomination (Education Code 46014, 48980)

School authorities may excuse any student from school to obtain confidential medical services without the consent of the student's parent/guardian (Education Code 46010.1)

Education Code Section 46012 states, “For purposes of any procedure for verification of absences from school, a student 18 years of age or over, with respect to his own absences from school, shall have all of the responsibilities and powers which, in the case of a minor, would be charged to the parent, guardian, or other person having charge or control of the minor.” (Enacted by Stats. 1976, Ch. 1010.)

A student shall not have a grade reduced or lose academic credit for any excused absence if missed assignments and tests that can reasonably be provided are satisfactorily completed within a reasonable period of time (Education Code 48980) 

 

EXCUSED ABSENCES PER CALIFORNIA EDUCATION CODE 28205

Below are the types of absences that are excused according to Education Code 48205:

(a) ... a pupil shall be excused from school when the absence is:

 

(1) Due to the pupil’s illness, including an absence for the benefit of the pupil’s mental or behavioral health.

 

(2) Due to quarantine under the direction of a county or city health officer.

 

(3) For purposes of having medical, dental, optometrical, or chiropractic services rendered.

 

(4) For purposes of attending the funeral services or grieving the death of either a member of the pupil’s immediate family, or of a person that is determined by the pupil’s parent or guardian to be in such close association with the pupil as to be considered the pupil’s immediate family, so long as the absence is not more than five days per incident.

 

(5) For purposes of jury duty in the manner provided for by law.

 

(6) Due to the illness or medical appointment during school hours of a child of whom the pupil is the custodial parent, including absences to care for a sick child, for which the school shall not require a note from a doctor.

 

(7) For justifiable personal reasons, including, but not limited to, an attendance or appearance in court, attendance at a funeral service, observance of a holiday or ceremony of the pupil’s religion, attendance at a religious retreat, attendance at an employment conference, or attendance at an educational conference on the legislative or judicial process offered by a nonprofit organization, when the pupil’s absence is requested in writing by the parent or guardian and approved by the principal or a designated representative pursuant to uniform standards established by the governing board of the school district.

 

(8) For purposes of serving as a member of a precinct board for an election pursuant to Section 12302 of the Elections Code.

 

(9) For purposes of spending time with a member of the pupil’s immediate family who is an active duty member of the uniformed services, as defined in Section 49701, and has been called to duty for, is on leave from, or has immediately returned from, deployment. Absences granted pursuant to this paragraph shall be granted for a period of time to be determined at the discretion of the superintendent of the school district.

 

(10) For purposes of attending the pupil’s naturalization ceremony to become a United States citizen.

 

(11) For purposes of participating in a cultural ceremony or event.

 

(12) (A) For purposes of a middle school or high school pupil engaging in a civic or political event, as provided in subparagraph (B), provided that the pupil notifies the school ahead of the absence.

 

(B) (i) A middle school or high school pupil who is absent pursuant to subparagraph (A) is required to be excused for only one schoolday-long absence per school year.

 

(ii) A middle school or high school pupil who is absent pursuant to subparagraph (A) may be permitted additional excused absences in the discretion of a school administrator, as described in subdivision (c) of Section 48260.

 

(13) (A) For any of the purposes described in clauses (i) to (iii), inclusive, if an immediate family member of the pupil, or a person that is determined by the pupil’s parent or guardian to be in such close association with the pupil as to be considered the pupil’s immediate family, has died, so long as the absence is not more than three days per incident.

 

(i) To access services from a victim services organization or agency.

 

(ii) To access grief support services.

 

(iii) To participate in safety planning or to take other actions to increase the safety of the pupil or an immediate family member of the pupil, or a person that is determined by the pupil’s parent or guardian to be in such close association with the pupil as to be considered the pupil’s immediate family, including, but not limited to, temporary or permanent relocation.

 

(B) Any absences beyond three days for the reasons described in subparagraph (A) shall be subject to the discretion of the school administrator, or their designee, pursuant to Section 48260.

 

(14) Due to the pupil’s participation in military entrance processing.(15) Authorized at the discretion of a school administrator, as described in subdivision (c) of Section 48260.

 

(b) A pupil absent from school pursuant to this section shall be allowed to complete all assignments and tests missed during the absence that can be reasonably provided and, upon satisfactory completion within a reasonable period of time, shall be given full credit for those assignments and tests. The teacher of the class from which a pupil is absent shall determine which tests and assignments shall be reasonably equivalent to, but not necessarily identical to, the tests and assignments that the pupil missed during the absence.

 

(c) For purposes of this section, attendance at religious retreats shall not exceed one schoolday per semester.

 

(d) Absences pursuant to this section are deemed to be absences in computing average daily attendance and shall not generate state apportionment payments.

 

(e) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

 

(1) A “civic or political event” includes, but is not limited to, voting, poll working, strikes, public commenting, candidate speeches, political or civic forums, and town halls.

 

(2) “Cultural” means relating to the practices, habits, beliefs, and traditions of a certain group of people.

 

(3) “Immediate family” means the parent or guardian, brother or sister, grandparent, or any other relative living in the household of the pupil.

 

(4) “Victim services organization or agency” has the same meaning as defined in subdivision (j) of Section 12945.8 of the Government Code.

 

 

MVLA ATTENDANCE POLICIES

For additional information regarding MVLA’s Attendance Policies, please see the complete policies linked below: