Wicomico County Board of Education Approval Status Index Code Title: Student Attendance Policy SFS-GEN-PL-019 First Adopted: 08/09/77 Legal Review: 07/29/24 08/13/19 08/01/17 Approved Revisions: 07/30/24 08/13/19 08/08/17 05/13/14 03/14/13 10/10/07 06/11/02 07/12/94 03/10/88 08/01/85 12/13/83 Effective: 07/31/24 07/14/19 08/09/17 05/14/14 03/15/13 10/10/07 06/11/02 07/12/94 03/10/88 08/01/85 12/13/83 08/09/77 Page 1 of 6 WICOMICO COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION , P.O. BOX 1538, SALISBURY, MD 21802 SFS-GEN-PL-019 Student Attendance Policy 1 2 3 I. Purpose 4 The purpose of this policy is to set forth the expectations of student attendance in Wicomico County 5 Public Schools (WCPS) in accordance with State of Maryland laws and regulations. This policy 6 applies students as well as parents and guardians who have the responsibility to ensure proper 7 attendance. Note that Pre-K and Evening High School have separate policies. 8 II. Definitions 9 A. “Absence” – the act of a student not being present in school/class or at a school-related activity 10 during the school day. 11 B. “Attendance” – the act of a student being present at school on a regular school day, or being 12 present for virtual instruction, and includes participation in school-sponsored activities as 13 specified in COMAR 13A.08.01.01 (COMAR 13A.02.06.02A.5) 14 C. “Chronically Absent” - A year-to-date absence, rate of ten (10) percent or more of school days. 15 D. “Chronically Early Dismissal” - A year-to-date early dismissal rate of ten (10) percent or more 16 of school days. 17 E. “Chronically Tardy” - A year-to-date tardy rate of ten (10) percent or more of school days. 18 F. “Continuously Absent” – for the purpose of illness of a student, a period of absence exceeding 19 three (3) or more consecutive school days. 20 G. “Patterned Absence” – A pattern of documented absence, tardies, and/or early dismissals 21 totaling three (3) or more days in a marking term. 22 H. “Early Dismissal” – dismissal from school prior to the end of the regularly scheduled 23 instructional school day. For the purpose of this policy, lawful and unlawful early dismissals are 24 determined by applying the same criteria as lawful and unlawful absence. 25 I. “Excessive Early Dismissals” – for the purpose of the policy, any student who has been 26 dismissed early by the parent or guardian nine times within the school year. This can be 27 combined with tardies. 28 J. “Excessive Tardies” – For the purpose of this policy any student who has been late to school or 29 class nine times within the school year is excessively tardy. This can be combined with early 30 dismissals. 31 K. “Habitual Truant” – any student who has been unlawfully absent from school for a number of 32 days or portion of days in excess of twenty (20) percent of the school days within any marking 33 period, semester or year. (COMAR 13A.08.01.04C) 34 L. “Health Care Provider” – An individual licensed or certified under Health Occupations Article, 35 Annotated Code of Maryland. 36
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