How to Report an Absence

Please call the office by 8:30am when your child is absent from school. Leave the following information:

• child's name and grade
• teacher's name
• reason for the absence
• Day or date

Office phone number: 714-894-7261

Absences

Regular school attendance is vital to a student's success in school.  A student who is frequently absent will miss instruction, which cannot be made up even though written work may be completed.  For attendance accounting purposes, the only legally excused absences are illness, medical/dental appointments, and bereavement. All other absences, including parent requests are unexcused. The Westminster School District is part of the Orange County Truancy Project. Students having more than three unexcused absences or excessive excused absences may be subject to a School Attendance Review Board (SARB) hearing.

If your child must be absent, please notify the school by 8:30 am. Please be prepared to give us the name of your child, his/her teacher, the reason for the absence, and the anticipated length of the absence. If we do not receive parent notification, a call from the office to the parent, will be attempted.  It is the parent's responsibility to clear a child's absence within five days.  Absences not verified within five days become unexcused absences.

Homework

If you are requesting homework for your child during their absence, please notify the office in the morning.  Homework will be made available to you for pick-up after school at the front office desk. 

Leaving campus early

In order for us to teach bell-to-bell, we ask that you please, if at all possible, make medical/dental appointments outside of school hours.  If, however, your child does need to leave campus early, please send a note to your child's teacher.  Your child will be called from class, once you, or someone on your child's Emergency contact list, arrives.  If someone other than yourself, will be picking up your child, please confirm that you have added them to your Aeries Parent Portal. We can only release your child to adults designated in your Aeries Parent Portal.  ID is required. 

Tardiness

Tardiness not only interrupts the instructional program but cultivates detrimental behavior that is difficult to reverse once a child reaches middle school. A student who arrives after the 8:00 bell must go through the office to receive a Tardy slip before entering the classroom. 

Many parents share that their child’s tardy is due to the parents’ scheduling errors or traffic. Please be aware that “on time” behavior is definitely learned; help your child be on time so that he/she can develop good habits at a young age. If, however, your child is arriving due to a doctor/dentist appointment and presents verification of the appointment he/she will be marked with an "excused" tardy.  

Attendance FAQ

Q:  How do I submit a DOCTOR'S NOTE to the office?

A:   Please hand deliver or email to the Office Manager, Fatima Marenco at fmarenco@wsdk8.us

Q:  What if my child will be absent for 3 or more days?

A:   If your child will be absent for 3 or more days, then contact the office and tell them about the absences. They will assist you with placing your child on an Independent Study Contract. 

 

Excused Absence: 

A pupil may only be excused from school for personal illness, city or county quarantine, medical, dental, optometric, or chiropractic appointments (please bring your child to school following the appointment with a note from the health care office); religious purposes; pupil court appearances; funeral of an immediate family member (1 day excused for in-state services; 3 days excused for out-of-state) (EC 48205).  After 14 days of excused absences for illness, additional absences for illness will require a doctor’s note (except in the case of prolonged serious illness) (AR 5113).  
 

Unexcused Absence: 

Vacations, conflicts with other pupils, missed bus, car broke down, babysitting, asthma, head lice beyond two (2 days), or being “tired”.  It is the parent’s responsibility to clear the child’s absence within 5 days or it will be marked unexcused.

California Education Code 48260 states:
1.Your child is legally a truant with 3 unexcused absences; a repeated truant with 4 unexcused absences and a habitual truant with 5 unexcused absences.

2. Missing more than thirty (30) minutes of instruction during the school day (AM or PM) is considered truancy without a valid excuse.

Please be aware that California State Law (Education Code 48290) states that parents who fail to meet their obligation of insuring their child’s regular school attendance are guilty of a law violation and are also subject to prosecution pursuant to Article 6.  Excessive unexcused absences will result in an invitation to attend the Orange County District Attorney Parent Meeting and/or a referral to the District Pupil Attendance Review Board (SARB).  

FOOTNOTE:  Pupils placed on SARB Contracts, MUST abide by SARB Contract. The SARB Contract takes precedence over the above. SARB Contracts do not expire and remain in effect from year to year.