Attendance Policy
Please be sure to report absences within 3 days by calling the Attendance Office at (510) 644-6098 or emailing kingattendance@berkeley.net
Please DO NOT phone, email, and write a note concerning the same absence. A single form of communication is sufficient to clear your child’s absence.
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Attendance Office
Phone: (510) 644-6098
Overview
Every minute of a child’s time at school is important. Children who are absent for even one day, or who arrive later than their classmates, miss valuable instruction time and can easily fall behind in school. They also miss important socialization time and fun with their peers.
When a student is absent from school, it results in a loss of funding for our district. The State of California does not reimburse school districts for days students are absent.
Satisfactory school progress is dependent upon regular attendance. Parents are requested to plan vacation trips and absences for personal reasons to correspond with school holidays so that the education process is not disrupted.
If a student does not attend his/her assigned class or activity and has not obtained teacher approval to be elsewhere, then the absence shall be presumed unexcused. Students will receive consequences for unexcused absences, which may include detention, parent conference, parent shadowing, or referral to the student attendance review team.
Computerized attendance is taken every period. Parents may track recorded attendance using the parent portal on Infinite Resources. See more information and instructions.
Absences
Reasons for Absence
The California Education Code defines the following types of absences:
Excused Absence: Acceptable reasons verified by a parental note, phone call, or email include illness, medical appointments, funerals, religious holidays, and court appearances. Repeated absences for illness will require a doctor’s note. For all doctor’s appointments submit a doctor’s note.
Unexcused Absence: Absences for any reason not delineated above—including truancy, vacations, and family emergencies—are considered unexcused absences.
The District does not support the practice of taking family trips or vacations on school days. Absences due to family trips are considered unexcused.
Reporting an Absence
If your child will be absent, please phone or email the Attendance Office with the following information WITHIN 3 SCHOOL DAYS of the absence:
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student’s full name (no nicknames)
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date and periods of the absence (full or partial day)
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reason for absence
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your name and relationship to student
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your daytime telephone number
IF YOU LEAVE OUT ANY INFORMATION, YOU RISK THE CLEARANCE NOT BEING PROCESSED.
Phone or email messages may be left 24 hours a day. Please allow 5 school days for processing. If a call is not made or email sent, your child will need to bring a note to the Attendance Office when she or he returns to school.
Clearing an Absence
If your child is marked as not being in class and the office has not received notice of her or his absence, you will receive an automated call and/or email from the school. To clear this absence, please call or email the Attendance Office.
The following absences may not be cleared with the Attendance Office by parents: tardies, teacher or substitute errors, field trips, testing or King activities, and athletic absences. If your child has an absence due to a staff error, please have him or her contact the teacher so that the teacher may notify the Attendance
Office of the error so it can be corrected. Please allow up to two days for absences owing to field trips, athletics, or other school activities to clear. If the absence has not been cleared after that time, please contact the Attendance Office.
It might take 10 days for the cleared absence to be reflected in the Student-Parent Portal.
Returning from an Absence
When a student is absent, it is the student’s responsibility to approach the teacher for any assignments or tests missed and receive instructions for making them up. For extended absences (more than four days), parents may contact the teacher directly.
If a student is absent for more than three days due to illness, please send them to the Attendance Office with a doctor’s note upon their arrival back to campus (before school, at lunch, or after school only).
Tardies
If you know your child will be late to school (tardy), send them with a note to the Attendance Office, and the office will write your child a tardy slip to take to class.
Independent Study
King teachers do not provide independent study packets for students who will be missing a week or more of school. Classroom teaching cannot be replaced by work packets and we encourage all families to take vacations during school holidays. In the event that travel is unavoidable during school time, parents should encourage students to read for at least 30 minutes daily.
Truancy
State law requires that a child between the ages of 6 and 18 attend school. Pursuant to Education Code 48260, any student subject to compulsory full-time education or to compulsory continuation education who is absent from school without a valid excuse three full days in one school year or tardy or absent for more than any 30-minute period during the school day without a valid excuse on three occasions in one school year, or any combination thereof, is a truant and shall be reported to the District’s attendance supervisor.
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Habitual Truant: A pupil is deemed a habitual truant if s/he is reported as a truant three or more times per school year. However, no pupil shall be deemed a habitual truant unless an appropriate district officer or employee has made a conscientious effort to hold at least one conference with a parent or guardian of the pupil.
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Student Attendance Review Board (SARB): Any student deemed a habitual truant shall be referred to a school attendance review board. The purpose of the SARB is to work collaboratively with the students and their families, and explore and utilize suggested interventions that will be successful for the pupil involved. Should SARB determine that its intervention services are insufficient or inappropriate to correct the truancy, or the pupil does not follow SARB’s directions, then a referral may be submitted to the district attorney or county probation office.