STUDENT ATTENDANCE POLICY

Students succeed in school if they attend regularly. It is essential that students attend school on a consistent basis to ensure continuity of instruction. Therefore, for your child to participate in reward or incentive activities that celebrate attendance, the following criteria must be met:

  • Students are expected to enter the building at 8 am.
  • Any student arriving at 8:09 am or later will be marked late.
  • If for any reason, your child leaves school before 10:30 am, they will be marked absent for the day.
  • Any student leaving before the end of the day must be signed out in the office.
  • Students may not be signed out between 2:15 –2:40 pm unless there is an emergency.

Students are required to attend school every day unless excused in writing by a lawful excuse. Legal absences are the following: death of immediate family member; illness of the student; court summons (for student); observance of a religious holiday; and appointment (for child) with a doctor. Attendance is monitored each day by the teachers and the office. Parents of absent students receive district-generated phone notifications for confirmation of each absence. Parents are asked to call school for student absences and to provide a written note and/or medical note for all absences regarding sickness. Students who show a habitual pattern of lateness and/or absence will receive intervention services.

Unless there is an emergency, students may not be signed out between 2:15 pm and the end of the day. Teachers are delivering important content right up until 2:40 pm, and we don’t want your child to miss any instruction. The parent or person picking up the child must be on the Student Information Form. Be prepared to present identification and follow these steps:

  • Report to the Office.
  • Sign the child out on the “Early Dismissal Daily Log.”
  • Wait for the child to report to the office

ATTENDANCE INTERVENTION PROTOCOL

Hampstead Hill Academy is committed to ensuring the academic success of all students and making sure that every student is in school every day is the first step in achieving that success. The following protocol aligns with BCPS Office of Enrollment, Choice and Transfer procedures and are designed to identify the support and resources necessary for all Baltimore City Public School students to attend school daily and arrive on time.

Regular student attendance is expected. If a student is not prompt and regular in attendance, proper measures shall be taken to encourage regular attendance. If such encouragement is not successful in improving the situation, a review of assessment of student learning shall be conducted and a range of interventions up to and including retention shall be instituted. The final intervention plan or decision to retain rests with the school administration.

IT IS THE TEACHER’S RESPONSIBILITY TO:
  1. Keep accurate attendance records
  2. Provide a schedule of assignments and make-up work, when appropriate

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE PROCEDURES

  1. The homeroom teacher is responsible to take daily attendance with the district-wide student information system.
  2. Daily automated ‘ParentLink’ district system will phone the student’s parent/guardian each evening the absence occurs.
  3. A doctor’s note may be requested for contagious illnesses, accidents, and extended school absences of a medical nature. A certificate allowing a child to return to school may be required following an illness of three (3) consecutive school days for reasons of illness or injury. If the child has been sick, a doctor’s certificate is preferred. If a doctor has seen the child, the school nurse can meet with the parent/guardian and certify the child’s return to school.
  4. Grade Level Team Leaders or designee shall track attendance during weekly team meetings using a grade level tracker. Academic Coaches will review attendance during weekly coaches meetings. The homeroom teacher will notify parents at two unexcused absences per month and/or five unexcused absences in a year.  For chronic absences, the teacher shall provide evidence of formal notification of total absences to parents/guardians beginning at five absences, and then at each additional five absences, i.e. 10, 15, 20 absences, documenting all contact in communication log. Students may be required to serve after-school detentions with his/her teacher to make up missed work.
  5. Two documented home visit attempts will be conducted by two members of the administrative, clinical health, or SST team for any student with seven (7) absences . During home visit, HHA staff will take a holistic approach to supporting the family in finding a solution to the attendance challenges. This will involve a thorough conversation exploring the motivations for poor attendance (transportation, job schedules, finances, childcare, distance, etc.).
  6. Any student with ten (10) or more excused or unexcused cumulative absences must receive a certified written letter from Mr. Hornbeck requiring a parent meeting where a plan to improve student attendance is formulated.

ATTENDANCE POLICY DURING COVID

Hampstead Hill Academy only provides in person learning. There is a district wide remote learning option not affiliated with HHA. To learn more about that district wide option, check out the City Schools website. The HHA attendance policy has not changed. Students are expected to attend school in person unless they submit a valid reason for an absence.

QUARANTINES

When asked to quarantine by HHA staff, students must not attend in person school for that entire period of time. They will be given time to make up any missed assignments but there will be no remote learning option for students in quarantine. Students who test positive for Covid and are quarantining, whether symptomatic or asymptomatic, will be marked as an excused absence.

The current quarantine period for students who test positive is five days as well as an additional five days wearing a mask at all times other than eating or drinking when at school. Day zero is the day a student tests positive. After five days (in other words on day six) the student may return as long as she/he has “mild and improving” symptoms and wears a mask for five additional calendar days during school hours.

Please note that asymptomatic, vaccinated siblings who test negative but live in the same household with a person testing positive may attend as long as they can quarantine away from the family member who tested positive.

Vacation to travel or see family on school days is not an excused absence and will be marked unexcused.