Important information from Principal Donna Tripi about:
Absences, Tardies
and Leaving Early from School |
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Last
year our School Site Council studied the continuing issue at our school of
students missing valuable instructional time that impacts their learning and
the learning of their classmates. This
occurs through taking off school days when students are not ill, coming in late
for other than doctor appointments, and leaving early. Parents may
not realize the impact absences have on their students and on the rest of the
class. "When students miss class, they are
at a disadvantage. Lessons often build
on prior work, and students who were absent may feel lost until they receive
additional instruction," stated Johanna Weber, teacher and former School Site
Council Co-chair. Teachers have to spend
valuable whole class time catching up the student who was absent and taking
away time from students who are there. Though
we often send homework home, it is not the same as being in class. Students miss valuable read alouds,
discussions, and hands on activities. By
design, we have the kind of instruction at our school that can not be made up
by sending a packet home.
As
we begin the new school year, I would like to alert you to some changes in the
way we handle absences, leaving early from school and tardies:
Start Time/Tardies:
There has been no change
to the bell times, however, we have disallowed the five minute grace period
before getting a tardy slip. School
begins at 9:00 a.m. That means that at 9:00
a.m. teachers are picking up their students and walking to their
classrooms. When students came at 9:05,
by the time they walked to their classrooms they missed a solid five minutes of
instructional time. "Since valuable teachable moments occur even in those first minutes of
the day, it is sad to watch a student walk in late, knowing what they've missed,"
said Kelly Skommesa at a recent School Site Council meeting.
Absences:
We
implore you to look at the school calendar available on our web site and the
district's web site and to plan vacations and long weekends on actual school
holidays. In this way, your child and
the rest of the class are not missing out on instructional time and the
district does not lose all important funding.
Leaving Early:
Our
teachers are giving instruction through the end of the school day and are often
giving reminders of how to prepare for the next school day in the last
minutes of class. For this reason, we won't release children at 3:15 -- they are expected to stay until school ends.
Please note that the
district will send a truancy letter for any combination of three: unexcused absences, tardies greater than 30
minutes, and leaving early before thirty minutes.
Please also note that it
is important to be truthful about the reasons for missing instructional
time. Our students will learn a great
deal about handling life situations from our example.
Thank
you for your cooperation,
Donna Tripi |
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