Attendance Policy
Section 31 of the Education Act states that the “student shall attend school regularly and punctually”. To that end, Ohpaho Secondary School has developed the following guidelines to deal with attendance issues:
1. Expectations Regarding Attendance and Punctuality
Achievement, attendance and punctuality are very closely linked: students who have irregular attendance and punctuality patterns dramatically increase their risk of failure. Students are expected to be on time and attend all classes.
2. Parental Responsibility
- Parents/guardians have the primary responsibility to monitor attendance and impose consequences. Parents/guardians are encouraged to resist allowing absences for anything other than those reasons outlined in the Education Act (i.e. student’s health, religious holidays, extra-curricular activities).
- Parents/guardians are asked to please refrain from scheduling family vacations during school time, especially during the scheduled exam periods at the end of each semester.
3. Catching Up on Missed Work
It is the student’s responsibility to catch up on any missed work after an absence. While teachers will strive to assist with missed work, they may not be able to provide additional help to students with unverified absences or chronic absenteeism. At the teacher’s discretion, a mark of 0% may be assigned for work or exams missed due to an unverified absence or for work not submitted within a reasonable time after a verified absence.
4. Chronic Absenteeism
To curtail chronic absenteeism and set our students up for success, the following steps will occur:
- After each unverified absence, parents/guardians will be contacted via email or SMS (if enabled by the parent/guardian).
- After 5 absences, the teacher will make contact with parents/guardians and note the contact in PowerSchool
- After 10 absences:
For all students students – an administrator or counsellor will review the absences with the student and contact the parent if necessary. - After 20 absences:
- For junior high students – if previous interventions have not had positive results, the student will be referred to Alberta Education’s Office of Student Attendance and Re-engagement (OSAR).
- For high school students – if previous interventions have not had positive results, the student will be removed from the class.
5. Exemptions
To be considered for an exemption from a particular course or activity (e.g. physical education) a student must bring a signed note from their parent or guardian. A medical certificate will be required if the exemption is for three or more days.
6. Punctuality
Students are expected to be on time and prepared for every class. Students are to be present in the classroom prior to announcements and the playing of the national anthem each morning. In order to minimize interruptions, students arriving late are to sign in to the office before going to class.
REPORTING ABSENCES
Please report your student's absence by email at [email protected] or by calling 587-671-0331.
When calling and leaving a message, please make sure to speak clearly stating your students first and last name, grade and reason for absence.
If your student arrives late, please ensure they check-in to the office before proceeding to class. The teacher will not be able to have their class interrupted to change your students' attendance immediately.
An absence remains unverified and unexcused until such time as we are contacted by a parent or guardian.
ATTENDANCE CALL-OUTS
Parents with Grade 10-12 students who have been marked unexcused in any given block, need to call in to verify the attendance. Otherwise you will receive another call later in that block. This is due to the fact that we have Jr. High students in our school as well and they have a seven block bell schedule.