• Attendance Policy

    Please help us to increase our student attendance percentages by ensuring your child is at school each day.

    Attendance at school is an important part of students’ success and achievement. Students learn the academic content best when they are present at school. A pattern of absences may put a student at risk of not mastering the Common Core Curriculum/ Academic Knowledge and Skills (AKS) for their grade level. Certain absences are considered to be excused according to state guidelines. Student attendance impacts how our school performance is measured on the College, Career, and Performance Index.


    Please review the school calendar and make an effort to schedule appointments after school or during school closings. Also, check our school website, student agendas, and marquee for additional information. In the event your child has an appointment in the morning or afternoon of a school day, please bring them to school for part of that day based around their appointment time. They will have an opportunity to engage in learning for part of the day.
    If a student is tardy more than 3 times during the semester, they will not be eligible to receive a perfect attendance award for the semester.


    Excused absences include:
    1. Personal illness or attendance in school endangers a student’s health or the health of others.
    2. A serious illness or death in the student’s immediate family requiring absence from school.
    3. A court order or an order by a governmental agency mandating absence from school.
    4. Observing religious holidays, necessitating absence from school.
    5. Conditions making attendance impossible or hazardous to student health or safety.

    Please remember that if your child is absent from school, you need to send a note upon their return to the school stating the reason for his/her absence. Students are marked unexcused for their absence until documentation is provided by the parent to the teacher for an excused absence. Should the reason on the documentation be one noted above, your child’s absence will be marked excused.


    A new state truancy law (O.C.G. Section 20-2-690.2) defines truant as “any child subject to compulsory school attendance who during the school calendar year has more than 5 days of unexcused absences.” Letters are automatically generated by Gwinnett County Public Schools for any student who misses 5 unexcused days from school. Parents will be invited to attend a Student Attendance Review Committee meeting with the counselor and social worker if there is a pattern of excessive absences, which impact student learning.


    Vacations are NOT excused absences. Students who are absent from school for ten consecutive days (unexcused absences) will be withdrawn from the school. Upon return, parents can re-enroll students but placement in the previous classroom cannot be guaranteed.


    Early Check-Out of Students
    Students will not be allowed to check out with parents/guardians from the office after 2:00 p.m. A parent wishing his or her child to be released from school must sign out with the computer at the reception desk. For security reasons, anyone checking out a student will be required to show a picture I.D. (i.e. Driver’s License) prior to having a child released to exit the building with him/her. CHILDREN ARE RELEASED ONLY FROM THE OFFICE AND ONLY TO PARENTS OR ADULTS DESIGNATED BY PARENTS ON THE EMERGENCY CONTACT INFORMATION. PLEASE DO NOT GO TO YOUR CHILD’S CLASSROOM TO CHECK HIM OR HER OUT. Your cooperation is appreciated as a safeguard for all the children.