Attendance is critical to learning. The following attendance guidelines are in place to ensure your success

1. The Attendance Office is open and phones will be answered between 7:30 am and 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday.
2. A voice mail message can be left at any time.
3. Verify absences by having a parent / guardian call (707) 472-5771 on the day of absence, or bring a note from the parent / guardian to the Attendance Office upon your return to school.

Absences NOT verified by a parent/guardian are truant/cuts.

Types of Absences:

Excused absences (Ed Code 48205)

1. Notwithstanding Sec. 48200, a pupil shall be excused from school when the absence is:
   1. Due to the pupil's illness.
   2. Due to quarantine under the direction of a county or city health officer.
   3. For the purpose of having medical, dental, optometric or chiropractic services rendered.
   4. For the purpose of attending the funeral services of a member of the pupil’s immediate family, so long as the absence is not more than one day if the service is conducted in California and not more than three days if the service is conducted outside California.
   5. For the purpose 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.
   7. For justifiable personal reasons, including, but not limited to, an appearance in court, attendance at a funeral service, observance of a holiday or ceremony of the pupil's religion, attendance at religious retreats, 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.
   8. For the purpose of serving as a member of a precinct board for an election pursuant to Section 12302 of the Elections Code.
   9. For the purpose 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 to a combat zone or combat support position. 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 the purpose of attending the pupil's naturalization ceremony to become a United States citizen.
2. A pupil absent from school under 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 therefor. 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.
3. For purposes of this section, attendance at religious retreats shall not exceed four hours per semester.
4. Absences pursuant to this section are deemed to be absences in computing average daily attendance and shall not generate state apportionment payments.
5. "Immediate family," as used in this section, has the same meaning as set forth in Section 45194, except that references therein to "employee" shall be deemed to be references to "pupil."

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Unexcused Absences:  

• Any absence that is not excused per Education Code 48205 is an unexcused absence/truant/cut.
• Any student subject to compulsory education who is absent for a full day or absent for 15 minutes or more per class period without a valid excused absence is a truant.

Leaving Campus during the School Day:

• Passes must be in your possession prior to leaving school. To acquire a pass, have a parent call or bring a note from your parent and check-out at the attendance office before leaving campus.
• If you are ill, go to the health office first.
• Parent/Teacher notes must be brought to attendance office first.

If You Are 18 or Older

• Students 18 years or older may write their own notes to obtain a pass from the attendance office for medical reasons.
• The attendance office may verify medical appointments.
• Students 18 years or older wishing to write their own notes for other than a medical reason, must see an administrator.
• Students 18 or older may be required to complete a contract to manage attendance notes and documentation. 

Make-Up Work

• Teachers may require make-up for both class time and homework. To receive full work credit for an excused absence, the student must request the make-up work from each teacher promptly and complete it by the due date given. The Parent should notify the school of the first day of absence and request student work if it the absence will extend over more than 1 day.
• Absences do not change the due dates for long-term assignments unless arranged with the teacher prior to the absence. Students who missed school work due to an unexcused absence will be given the opportunity to make up missed work as necessary to ensure academic progress, but a lower grade may occur.
• Suspended students have the right to make up missed assignments.

Loss of Credit

(UHS policy is under revision)

• Teachers who withhold class credit because of excessive unexcused absences shall so inform students and parents/guardians at the beginning of the school year or semester. When a student reaches the number of unexcused absences defined as excessive in Board policy, the student and parent/guardian shall again be notified of the district's policy regarding excessive unexcused absences.

Short-term Independent Study

Independent Study is provided to meet the needs of students who must be absent from school for other than medical reasons for five or more days.

Allow time to complete all of the following steps:

• A Parent must go to the Parent Liaison Office 3-5 days before leaving to commence a Short-term Independent Study Contract.
• The student must meet with each teacher 3 days in advance of departure (outside of class time) to ask for assigned contract work. Teachers have up to 3 days to create necessary assignments for the missed time.

All contracts must have the required signatures and returned to the Attendance Office before they are valid. Approval is not automatic and may be denied if prior contracts have not been completed.

Work must be submitted to the Attendance office on date of return to school which is noted as the return date on the contract. Exceptions to this are make-up labs or exams on campus, which may be done as prearranged with teachers. It is the student’s responsibility to meet with teachers to schedule such work.

Parents will be called to the school for supervision of completion of the work if it is incomplete upon return.

Communicating Absence and Attendance Information:

• Student attendance information is available on-line via the Aeries System.
• The school may call parents at home or at work.
• The school uses an automated calling system each evening.