AF Amistad High School Family Handbook 2017-2018 | 62 AFAHS will regularly monitor scholar attendance in order to ensure that all scholars come to school to get the education they need and deserve. Please note the following important attendance policies:  We do not differentiate between “excused” and “unexcused” absences for reporting, awards, promotion decisions, etc.: We commit to structuring every minute of the school day in a way that will benefit your child academically and socially. This means that any time a student misses a day of school, it has a significant impact on his or her educational experience. For this reason, any day your child does not attend school will be marked an absence. Regardless of the reason, when a child misses school, the impact on his/her education is the same: a full day of instruction was missed. We understand that there will be rare circumstances when scholars will need to miss school due to a serious illness (with a doctor’s note) or a death in the family, but the child will still be marked absent for the day. By maintaining a clear policy for how we account for lost instructional time due to absence, this will enable us to most accurately make promotion decisions with your child’s best interest in mind. If there are real extenuating circumstances, we will take them into account when considering attendance as a factor in our decision-making. Note: Scholars with a documented disability (including those in the initial referral process) which adversely affects their attendance should not receive a deduction for an excused absence. Additionally, instances in which the scholar receives alternative instruction at an alternate site arranged for by the school will not count as absences.  Avoid missing school for appointments: We ask that parents/guardians schedule medical appointments outside of school time. The best times are days when school is not in session (for example, professional development days or vacations) or on Friday afternoons. In the rare case that a scholar has a medical appointment at a time when school is in session, he or she should return to school after the appointment. Appointments for an existing condition or disability will be counted as excused absences.  Early Dismissal: Scholars are expected to stay in school until the end of the day (3:26 pm Monday-Thursday, 1 pm Friday). To ensure scholar safety, we will not release scholars prior to the end of the school day without prior written notification from parent/guardian. Five early dismissals in a year will be counted as one absence. In cases in which an early dismissal results in a scholar attending less than 5 hours of school, that early dismissal will be recorded as an absence per state law.  Transportation and Attendance: Missing the bus is not an acceptable reason to miss an entire school day. Every scholar should have a back-up plan for getting to school if he or she misses the bus. Parents should call the school immediately after the scholar misses the bus so that the school knows the situation and can help problem-solve.  Ten absences to start the school year or during the school year: If a scholar is absent for the first ten days of school, and there has been no successful contact between the