Attendance

Attendance Goal

Our attendance goal at Sylvan Park is to have 96.5% of our students in school each day.  

In addition, we want 85% of our students to have 96% attendance days or better.  

Attendance Policy

Every person between the ages of six years and eighteen years of age is required to attend school.  Students are to come to school daily and on time (Education code 48260).  Our school continues to use an electronic attendance system.  We have a school-wide attendance incentive program. This year our theme is "Out of This World" with perfect attendance.  Classes who have perfect attendance (no absences) earn points daily which they accumulate over time for prizes. Prizes are given for 25 day increments.  Check out our board in the main hallway to see how your child's class is doing in the competition.  

Absence Procedures

If a child is absent from school the parent/guardian will receive two phone calls (10 am & 6 pm) indicating that their child is not in school.  These calls are automatically generated and the office is unable to stop those calls from going out.  Parents must ensure that upon returning to school from an absence their child brings in a written note indicating their reason for being absent from school.  It is not necessary for the parent to call the school.  We are unable to clear absences unless we have a note indicating the reason. Notes can be turned in to the teacher or the main office.  

Any absence that remains unexcused for 10 days will be converted to a truant.  Students who are absent from school without a valid excuse for three full days in one school year or tardy for more than any 30 minute period shall be considered a habitual truant.  The district will generate letters to parents who are classified as "habitual truant."  (Education Code sec. 48261 & 48262)

Keep in mind that if a child is absent from school 10 days or more in one semester or 15 days or more in one school year will be referred to the Abolish Chronic Truancy (ACT) Program through the district attorney's office.  

Tardy Policy

A tardy is defined as a student who is not in their class by 8:00 a.m.   We operate a two-bell system in the mornings. There is a warning bell that rings two minutes before the morning bell.  Students are to stop playing and proceed to where their class lines up.  The morning bell rings promptly at 8:00 a.m. and it indicates the start of class.  It is expected that students are in line by the morning bell at which time they will be escorted to their class by their teacher.  Students are given a five minute grace period before the tardies are marked on their attendance record. 

Students receive a time-stamped blue tardy slip at the front door by the attendance clerk after 8:05 am. This information is then entered in the attendance record by the teacher.   If students are more than fifteen minutes late then they need to check in at the office and receive a purple tardy slip that allows them to enter their classroom.  Students who are late thirty minutes or more will be marked truant if there is no valid written excuse.  

Parents will receive an automated telephone call whenever their child is tardy.  

Bell Schedule

7:55                     Warning Bell

8:00                     School starts

10:00 - 10:20     First Recess

10:25 - 10:45     Second Recess

11:20 - 12:00     ETK Lunch

11:30 - 12:10     First Lunch

12:10 - 12:50     Second Lunch

12:40 - 1:20       Third Lunch

1:23                     Dismissal (every Tuesday)

2:14                     Dismissal

Abolish Chronic Truancy (ACT) Program

Sylvan Park works in collaboration with the District Attorney's office through the Abolish Chronic Truancy (ACT) Program.  Students are required by state law to be in regular attendance at school.  Once a student is identified as having more than 10 absences in one semester or more than 15 absences in a school year, they are referred to the District Attorney's office for the ACT program.  General meetings are held with the parents of those students to discuss the education codes and how excessive absences affect their child's education.  Once students are enrolled in the ACT program they remain in the program throughout their elementary education. The attendance is monitored to ensure that the absences improve.  If absences do not improve then a contract is developed with parents to ensure that students come to school daily.  If attendance does not improve, then more intensive interventions take place which can include jail time or fines up to $3000.