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 4 of 6 WICOMICO COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION , P.O. BOX 1538, SALISBURY, MD 21802 SFS-GEN-PL-019 v. Hazardous weather conditions. Hazardous weather conditions shall be interpreted to 113 mean weather conditions which would endanger the health or safety of the student 114 when in transit to and from school. 115 vi. Work approved or sponsored by the school, WCPS, or the State Department of 116 Education, as determined by the superintendent or designee. 117 vii. Observance of a religious holiday. 118 viii. State emergency. 119 ix. Suspension. Suspension is a lawful/excused absence, and the days of suspension 120 status cannot be used when determining “habitual truancy.” 121 x. Lack of authorized transportation. A student will be excused when WCPS authorized 122 transportation is not available for reasons beyond the parent/guardian’s or student’s 123 control. This does not include students denied authorized transportation for 124 disciplinary reasons. 125 xi. Other emergency or set of circumstances which, in the judgment of the 126 superintendent of schools or designee, constitutes a good and sufficient cause for 127 absence from school. 128 b. Unlawful Absence - An absence, including absence for any portion of the day, for any 129 reason other than those cited as lawful is presumed to be unlawful and may constitute 130 truancy. 131 B. Additional Absences not covered by Federal and State Regulations. 132 The superintendent of schools, or designee, may list additional permitted absences in the 133 procedure to this policy. 134 C. Attendance Intervention 135 When patterns of increasing numbers of absences, early dismissals, and/or tardies are identified 136 by the schools, strategies developed by the superintendent of schools, or designee, will be 137 implemented to address the student’s attendance. 138 D. Attendance Monitoring & Parent/Guardian Documentation 139 1. The superintendent of schools, or designee, will develop a process for recording attendance, 140 notifying parents/guardians of absences, and attendance data management. At a minimum, 141 the method of attendance recording must: 142 a. Provide information that will permit a complete and accurate reporting of attendance 143 within Wicomico County Public Schools and to the Maryland State Department of 144 Education. 145 b. Provide information on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis that can be used to identify 146 students with problematic attendance and tardiness/early dismissal patterns so corrective 147 measures may be instituted. 148 c. Provide information on students with patterns of truancy, habitual truancy, tardiness, and 149 early dismissal to the Division of Student and Family Services so that causes may be 150 identified, and interventions applied to improve the attendance and punctuality of these 151 students. 152
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