Manley High School

Attendance

300 minutes of instruction = 1 full day of attendance

299 – 150 minutes of instruction = ½ day of attendance

149 – 0 minutes of instruction = 0 day of attendance

All students are expected to attend class regularly and promptly. Absence from school is the greatest single cause for poor achievement. The basic responsibility for the regular attendance of the student lies with the student and the parent or legal guardian.

The Illinois School Code Sections 26 – 1 states: “Whoever has custody or control of any child between the ages of seven and sixteen years old shall cause such child to attend some public school in the district wherein the child resides the entire time it is in session during the regular school term…” A student who is not in attendance misses much needed instruction and therefore cannot adequately prepare for exams or meet the course objectives outlined by the State of Illinois and Chicago Public Schools. Therefore, any student who is absent 10 or more days during the school year must attend a mandatory student/parent attendance-related conference. If your child does not attend the conference he /she will then be placed on academic warning and referred to the Truancy Outreach department inside the school. All students who miss 18 or more unexcused/truant days of school during the school year will be referred to the Chicago Public Schools Law Department for Adjudication, and will be closely monitored and required to attend ongoing mandatory attendance meetings held by the Truancy Outreach department.

Absences

When a student is absent from school he/she must return with adequate documentation from a parent/guardian, doctor, court official, police officer, etc. The student should give this information to the attendance office on a daily basis so that the student can be reinstated to avoid truancy.

Excused Absences

When a child is absent from school, the parent/guardian can call the Attendance Office at 773-534-6900 no later than 10:00 a.m.On the day of the absence, please leave a daytime phone number. A written statement or a pre-made cause of absence form (now available in the attendance office) indicating the reason for the absence must be brought to school upon returning from an absence. A working contact number for a parent/guardian must be included on the form. There is a three-day grace period after an absence to turn in notes to the Attendance Office in order to prevent truant days from accumulating. In some cases, the Principal or Attendance Designee shall determine whether the absence is excused or unexcused. A student’s absence is considered excused if sufficient evidence is presented to substantiate one of the following reasons:

• Personal Illness
• Illness or death (immediate family)
• Observance of a religious holiday
• Extreme circumstance or family emergencies 
• Circumstances which cause reasonable concern to the parent or legal guardian for the safety or health of the student (the reasonableness of the parent’s or legal guardian’s concern is subject to evaluation by the principal, principal’s designee, or other board officials, on a case-by-case basis)
• Other situations beyond the control of the student as determined by the principal or the principal’s designee, on a case-by-case basis, including, but not limited to, homelessness and its attendance difficulties. (Students who may be homeless should be referred to the Homeless Education Department of the Office of Specialized Services for additional assistance.)

Please Note: Oversleeping, living far away, and missing the bus are not grounds for an excused absence!

Unexcused Absences

A student who is absent from school without written parental permission or permission from a school official is considered truant. All unexcused absences will be followed up with a phone call from the automated phone calling system. Teachers are not required to give makeup work or exams due to unexcused absences. If your child accumulates a total of 10 unexcused absences he/she begins the adjudication process in which the parent/guardian and the student will have to appear before the Chicago Public School Law Department. Absentee Out Calling System: The Absentee Out Calling System is an automated telephone system that is programmed to call the homes of all absent students on the day of an absence. All calls are placed to telephone numbers on file submitted by the student’s parent/guardian. If you never receive a phone call and your child is absent please contact the school Attendance Office immediately to ensure we have the correct telephone number!

Early Dismissals

Students who become ill during the school day must be picked up and signed out from the Attendance Office by a parent/guardian or parent designee 21 years of age or older. The parent must contact the Attendance Office if they choose to send a designee! No student is allowed to leave the school building without a parent or approved parent designee signature! No exceptions!

Excused Absence from Class

Students who are to be excused for one or more classes to participate in a school activity (field trip, dance, assemblies, etc.) must secure written permission from all of his/her classroom teachers including division prior to the event. Classroom teachers are required to sign off on all events that take place in school and out of school. The parent is also required to sign off on all events that take place off school grounds.

Late Arrival or Tardy to School

(5 tardies to school = 1 detention)

Any student arriving after 8:04 a.m. is considered late/tardy which may result in the disqualification for any perfect attendance recognition, awards, etc. A total of (5) tardies = (1) detention. During bad weather season, final exams, and special events, the principal will advise on tardy/late to school procedures.

Tardy to Class

(6 tardies to class = 1 detention)

A student is considered tardy to class when he/she is not in the classroom when the second bell or tardy bell stops ringing. If a student is more than 10 minutes late, the student must get a tardy pass from the first-floor security personnel and the student will be marked tardy in our computerized attendance system. In the event the student is chronically tardy to class, the teacher will contact the student’s home to inform the parent/guardian of the student behavior.

Class Cuts

(3 class cuts = 1 detention)

Class cutting occurs when a student is present at school but does not attend an assigned class and/or division. Any unauthorized absence is considered a serious infraction of school rules. A “cut” is essentially an unexcused absence and will be treated as such; therefore no reinstatements will be given for cutting classes and disciplinary actions will be taken. (3) Class cuts = (1) detention. Class cuts will be followed up by a phone call home by the teacher and/or counselor. If a phone call cannot be made successfully, the attendance office will then attempt to make a home visit. If a student is detained from class by a school staff member for any reason which may cause a class cut or tardy, that staff member must notify that class teacher of the whereabouts of the student in a timely manner. If the student is detained because of an emergency situation, the staff member must notify the teacher in writing indicating the date and time the student was detained, otherwise the absence is considered a cut.

Detentions

Students earn detentions by way of class attendance or behavior. A student is assigned one detention for every sixth tardy to class, every third tardy to school, and/or every third cut. A student can serve detentions each day after school from 3-5 p.m. Each detention is one hour and two detentions can be served in one day. The detention office will contact the parent/guardian if the student accumulates 10 or more detentions and is making no effort to serve them. Detention is an important part of the reflective component to assisting students to change their behavior.

In-School Suspension

Students are assigned ISS either by not serving detentions or by consequences assigned by Student Code of Conduct. A student may be assigned one day of ISS if the student has 15 un-served detentions. If the student successfully serves one full day of ISS (assigned for un-served detentions), 10 pending detentions will be removed from the student’s record (first time ONLY) and the student must then begin to serve all other pending detentions. If a student accrues 5 more attendance tardies without efforts to serve pending detentions, the student will be assigned another day of ISS. If the student successfully serves one full day of ISS (assigned for un-served detentions), 5 pending detentions will be removed from the student’s record. If the student is absent on the day he/she is assigned ISS and returns with adequate documentation to excuse that absence, the student will begin to serve ISS upon their return to school. If the student returns to school after an absence without adequate documentation to excuse absence, the student will be assigned an additional day of ISS to be served consecutively. If student is absent three days with pending ISS assignment, the Discipline Office will send a notice home and a parent conference is mandatory upon student’s admittance to school.

300 minutes of instruction = 1 full day of attendance

299 – 150 minutes of instruction = ½ day of attendance

149 – 0 minutes of instruction = 0 day of attendance

Students must be on time and attend all classes. Class cutting and late arrival will result in half-day attendance and/or zero attendance.