Attendance Policy and Plan School Year 2025-26

Welcome to the 2025-26 School Year!

We are excited to share our school’s Attendance policy and plan. This policy and plan will hopefully provide you with the information and guidance you need to help your child attend and stay in school.

OUR SCHOOL COMMUNITY’S ATTENDANCE GOAL

Attendance matters. Missing a day of school means missing hours of instructional time. Research shows that students who attend regularly achieve greater success in school and in life. Our school’s collective goal for attendance remains the same. Whether in-person or remote, we want every child to attend school every day or at least 95% of the school year.

ATTENDANCE TAKING

Our School will take Attendance:

Attendance will be taken electronically using the NYC Teach Hub Attendance application. Attendance is taken daily between 8:00 am and 8:30 am. Students will be marked late if they arrive after 8:45 am. Teachers have up to 9:30 to submit their daily attendance.

ATTENDANCE DEFINITIONS

Modality	In-person	Remote
Present	Student attends (is physically present in the classroom/school learning environment) at least one full instructional period during the school day.	Student attends (is virtually present for) synchronous or asynchronous instruction for the equivalent of at least one full instructional period during the scheduled program day.
Absent	A student that is not physically present in the classroom school learning environment for instruction during the scheduled school day.	Not virtually present for synchronous or asynchronous instruction.
Synchronous instruction is defined as live interaction between the teacher and student(s) each day at a scheduled time, communicated in advance to parents and students. For more information, please contact the school. Asynchronous learning refers to instruction and learning opportunities that are not centered on students and teachers interacting at the same time. Asynchronous learning activities enable students to work at their own pace so they can learn the same material at different times independently.

 

COMMUNICATION WITH FAMILIES

Our school uses the following methods to communicate with families about attendance:

When a student is absent, the following methods are used to make contact:

Phone calls, Parent Square, email, letters, and Forms and Flows (Formerly Operoo) are the primary methods of communication.

Parent Square is used to push out communication with all families. Forms and Flows are used for parent contact information and to sign forms/documents.

It is very important for the school to have families’ up-to-date contact information. To make sure we can reach you, please alert us of any changes to your address or phone number by:

Updating your information on the Blue Card/ NYC School Account, emailing the school, or by updating contact information on Forms and Flows (Formerly Operoo)

ABSENCES

If you know your child is going to miss school on a certain day or will be missing school for an extended period, please notify the school in advance by:

Please call the schools main office at
643X@487 (Main Site) 332-286-1350,
643X@496 (Webster) 718-247-2223,
643X@161 (Tinton) 718-993-5642
or email the school attendance teacher: PDavilamenjivar@schools.nyc.gov

If your child is absent, we will follow up by making a positive phone call, text, or email home. This follow-up helps us to ensure that your child is safe, healthy, and that your family has what it needs to help your child overcome the barriers to attending school.

While every single absence is equal to missed instructional time, we nonetheless mark absences as excused and unexcused. Please provide us with information on the reason for your child’s absence.

Here is what you need to know regarding excused and unexcused absences:

• Excused Absence:

An excused absence may be excused for reasons including illness, injury, problems accessing technology or getting online during a snow emergency day, family emergency, religious observation, pre-arranged appointments. In this case, a note from the doctor's appointment, hospital, etc. should be submitted to ensure proper coding for the absence. In the case of a death in your immediate family, please provide a letter/email indicating the period of time that the student will be absent. If traveling out of the state/country, documentation must be provided. A copy of the obituary/funeral program must be provided.

• Unexcused Absence:

An unexcused absence is when too little to no information is provided when a student is marked absent for the day. If a travel plan must occur during the school year, parents/guardians must submit documentation for the travel plan: Copy of travel plans/plane ticket, letter to school if traveling by car, etc. The duration of the trip must also be communicated to the school to ensure that the absence is being properly coded. In the case of a death in your extended family, please provide a letter/email indicating the period of time that the student will be absent. If traveling out of the state/country, documentation must be provided. A copy of the obituary/funeral program must be provided.

LATENESS

Even if a student is late, they are still marked as present as long as they attend for at least one instructional period. If you know your child is going to be late on a certain day, please:

Call the schools main office at 643X@487 (Main Site) 332-286-1350, 643X@496 (Webster) 718-247-2223, 643X@161 (Tinton) 718-993-5642 or email the school attendance teacher: PDavilamenjivar@schools.nyc.gov

Just as with absences, we flag lateness as excused and unexcused. Here is what you need to know regarding excused and unexcused lateness:

• Excused Lateness:

Lateness may be considered excused for the same reasons provided for absence e.g. Illness/injury, problems with accessing technology or getting online, religious observation, family emergency, pre-arranged appointments, or school or bus delays or documented MTA delays. In this case, a note from the doctor's appointment, hospital, etc. should be submitted to ensure proper coding for the lateness.

• Unexcused Lateness:

Lateness is when a student is not in their homeroom, if in-person, or online for their morning meeting by 8:45 a.m. and has not provided reasons for lateness.

LEAVING EARLY

This section explains our school’s policy for a student’s early departure from the school day in both remote and in-person settings. Even if a student leaves school before the end of the school day, they are still marked as present as long as they attend for at least one instructional period. If your child is going to leave early on a certain day, please notify the school by:

Leaving school early must be communicated to the site’s main office no later than 1:00 PM on the day of early departure. This is to ensure the safety of all students and to ensure that all required staff members are communicated with prior to the daily dismissal time beginning at 2:00 PM. A student can ONLY be dismissed from school early to the family member/person who has been identified on the Blue Card.

Anyone picking up a student must wait at the Security desk, and the student will be brought down to the parent/guardian. The person picking up the student must present a photo ID and sign the student out on the sign-out sheet.

How Can We Help?

This section shares information regarding our schools’ multi-tiered support plan. It is our hope that through these supports your children have what they need to attend school regularly.

COMMUNICATION:

Every day a student is absent, we will make a positive phone call home to check in and make sure the student and family are healthy. During parent-teacher conferences, we will share information regarding your child’s attendance and discuss how we as a school community can be most helpful in creating the conditions for your child to attend regularly and thrive in school. The school maintains all daily calls to families logged onto the ATS System to document outreach activities.

PERSONALIZED SUPPORTS:

Any student who has missed two or more days by the end of September will be assigned to a small peer group intervention. The students in this group will be making connections and receiving the academic and social integration where needed the most. The school will provide intensive support to students with chronic absenteeism by conducting home visits, continuous contact with parents, and assist families in connecting with different support services that are available in their communities. P643X also holds Monthly Parent Support meetings with the Parent Coordinator Ms. Hernandez and the School Counselor Ms. Pimentel.

CELEBRATIONS:

We are dedicated to making sure every child has the support needed to attend school every day and succeed academically. We recognize and celebrate students’ improvement, no matter how small. Monthly attendance awards are backpacked, and students are highlighted for having great attendance. The class at each site with the highest Class average attendance percentage (3 classes total) are rewarded with a monthly attendance incentive (I.e. Pizza party, ice cream celebration, etc.)

FAMILY SUPPORT GROUP:

P643X will host monthly Parent Support Group meetings, a welcoming and judgment-free space where parents come together to share experiences, support each other, and find helpful resources. This group is led monthly by our School Counselor Ms. Pimentel and our Parent Coordinator Ms. Hernandez. (Please see the flyer, Ms. Hernandez’s monthly newsletter or the school website/calendar for more information)

SCHOOL CALENDAR:

To view a calendar of the school’s events, go to: https://p643x.org/calendar.html

Our School Website has lot of resources and information as well: P643X.org