Attendance

Daily attendance in all classes is one of the most significant factors in a student’s educational success.
Changes in definitions:

A full day absence is when a student is absent for fifty percent or more of their scheduled day. 
A student shall be marked absent from a class period if they miss more than 50 percent of that class.  
A parent/guardian must notify the Attendance Office via phone, email or written note (please include the student’s name, grade, guardian name and contact number, and the reason for the absence), within 48 hours of the absence. Our automated phone messaging system will call the number in Skyward to let you know of your students’ absence. (Please call the Attendance Office if you are NOT getting these messages when you know your student is absent.)
Per Policy and Procedure 3122, (6/11/13) an absence will be considered excused if: the student participates in school approved activity or instructional program, illness, health condition or medical appointment, family emergency included but not limited to a death or illness in the family, religious or cultural purpose including observance of religious or cultural holiday or religious or cultural instruction, court, judicial proceeding or serving on a jury, post-secondary, technical school or apprenticeship program visitation or scholarship interview, state-recognized search and rescue activities, absence directly related to student’s homelessness status, absence resulting in disciplinary action, principal and parent, guardian or emancipated youth mutually agreed upon approved activity.
Any student who is aware of reasons that will cause them to be absent should make arrangements with their teachers prior to the absence for appropriate make-up work.
Students involved in after school activities are expected to attend a full day of school. Students who are absent part, or all, of the school day are not eligible to compete or practice unless permission is granted by the building athletic/activity director or principal.

If you are picking up your student during school, please check in at the Attendance Office. Please bring ID and ensure you are listed in Skyward as “family” or “emergency contact”. Be prepared to sign your student out using the “parent sign out log”.  Under no circumstances is a student to leave campus without prior permission from a parent/guardian.
For students’ safety and the school’s liability, all students must check in and/or check out in the Attendance Office when arriving late or leaving campus early. Verification from a parent is required before a student leaves campus during the school day. Students arriving to school late during class time must report to the Attendance Office, to enter their tardy in the tardy kiosk (new at RHS) then present their copy of the Admit slip to the teacher.

HALL PASS POLICY (Behavior Management System Component)

Students without passes walking in the halls during instructional time will receive consequences in this order:
1st Offense: Students will be dropped by Admin, Dean/IB Coordinator, Security/SRO back to classes.
2nd Offense: Students will be dropped by Admin, Dean/IB Coordinator, Security/back to classes with a Wednesday detention.
3rd Offense: Students will be dropped by Admin, Dean/IB Coordinator, Security/back to classes with two Wednesday detentions. 
4th Offense: Students will lose exit privileges from all classes for the trimester. A referral will be made for the student to attend the Attendance Support Intervention groups with CIS Coordinators. This referral is mandatory.

Adult Actions to Accompany the  Policy

1. All personnel will be provided two additional bathroom passes. Teachers will not use any other permit for students to go to the
2. AP, Dean/ IB Coordinator, SRO, AACs, and Security will walk the halls randomly questioning students who are in the halls with or without bathroom passes.
3. Random announcements about hall swoops will be made at any time and any period during the day by the Admin Team or security. Please continue with your instruction despite the brief interruptions. We want to develop an adequate instructional and behavioral culture of this building.
4. Teachers will need to report to security (calling the main office) if students are walking out of their classes without approval.
5. Running Start students in the building will be asked to work in the library or ISI room or leave the premises until their classes start (depending on their collaboration with the policy. They will need to stop by the counseling office to pick up an entry pass.
6. Teachers allowing students outside the first and last ten minutes of school will meet with Principal to address the matter if their respective students are often found in the halls.
7. Teachers with ongoing students outside their classes without a pass will need to meet with the principal.
8. Data will be provided to staff under the Monday Memo every two weeks as consequences are tallied and served.
9. A phone call to families will be made by Dean or AP depending on students engaging on this type of behavior chronically.
10. Some teachers already allowing students who are returning from lunch to eat outside their doors. For this necessary allowance, swooping the halls will start five minutes after the bell during 4th period only. However, students cannot assume you are okay with it. We will check with the teacher that you permitted them. Again, we are developing a culture around instructional and behavioral expectations.
11. When students are dropped back into classes without passes or found with passes recorded within the first and last ten minutes of classes, AP, Dean/ IB Coordinator, SRO, AACs, and Security will remind the teacher about the policies and the necessity to be consistent for the well-being of our students.

Tardies are tracked on a weekly basis. In a 5-day period, students who accumulate 4 or more tardies will receive the following consequences:

4-6 tardies: One lunch/after-school detention w/automated phone call home
7-9 tardies: Two lunch/after-school detentions w/automated phone call home
10+ tardies: One Wednesday School detention w/automated phone call home
Please note: Any student reaching nine or more tardies will lose off-campus privileges and the potential for restrictions on specified extra-curricular activity privileges.
After-school Detention (Wednesdays from 2:10p – 5:00p) may be assigned for chronic tardiness. Students serving After-school Detention will be required to make their own arrangements for transportation home.

Unauthorized absence from school is considered truancy.  Seven (7) unexcused absences in one (1) month or ten (10) unexcused absences total in a school year will cause the school to file a BECCA petition with the Juvenile Court System or Truancy Advisory Board. In instances of truancy, students may not be allowed to make up work.  Consequences for truancy include, but are not limited to, detention, parent phone contact, Wednesday School, In-School Suspension, parent conference in person, possible Petition to Juvenile Court, and state mandated Petition to Juvenile Court.  Seven (7) unexcused absences in one (1) month or ten (10) unexcused absences total in a school year will cause the school to file a BECCA petition with the Juvenile Court System or Truancy Advisory Board. In instances of truancy, students may not be allowed to make up work.
Truancy letters are mailed every week to keep parents and students informed. There are four types of absence letters, 3 days absence letter, 5 days absence letter, 7 days absence letter and 10 days absence letter.

Student safety and academic success is a high priority for our students at Renton High. Though it is strongly recommended that students remain on campus during lunch, students can apply for permission to leave campus. Please sign and complete the off campus form and turn in to the attendance office.

Off-Campus Pass Application

Students eighteen and older may obtain a “Parent Release Form” from the Attendance Office which allows students to sign their own attendance notes. The form must be signed by a parent/guardian AND be approved by an administrator.

Form Download