Attendance:
Please see that your child attends school every day except in cases of illness or emergency. Send a note when he/she returns to school. Students should arrive at school by 7:35 AM or they will be considered tardy. Drop off begins at 7:05.
What are the state laws on attendance and truancy ?
As required by law, it is the responsibility of Pine Tree ISD to inform parents of state attendance requirements to provide you with ample information and warning before absences become excessive. State law requires that your student must be in school at least 90% of the time to receive credit for a course or to be advanced to a grade level.
Student truancy procedures are handled in a civil court rather than a criminal court. However, it is important to understand that parents who contribute to non-attendance can still be subject to prosecution.
Students residing in Texas are required to attend school from the age of 6 to 19 and for ages 4 and 5 if enrolled in school. It is the parent’s duty to monitor the student’s attendance and require the student to attend school. (TEC 25)
In following the legal requirement, a truancy referral will be sent to the court after a student reaches 10 or more unexcused absences in a six-month period and only after truancy prevention measures have been attempted. The 10 unexcused absences will apply to entire days and partial days missed such as tardies and early checkouts.
Students enrolled in Prekindergarten with more than 10 unexcused absences, full or partial days, may be withdrawn from the program due to lack of attendance.
After 5 unexcused absences, you may be required to meet with a campus administrator to review attendance procedures and discuss further prevention measures.
Students will 10 unexcused absences will be subject to appear before Justice of the Peace, Tim Bryan.
How can I excuse an absence?
You may excuse absences in two ways:
- A Written Parent Excuse Note: We will accept 3 parent excuse notes a semester. The 2nd semester begins January 21, 2019. A parent note can cover several days on an illness.
-
A Medical or Therapy Excuse Note: Please add the medical or therapy provider for an excuse note that covers all parts of the absence. If the therapy is reoccurring, please have that noted so that we can mark it in Skyward.
Please turn into the office any excuse notes.
When does my child have to serve after school detention?
We are required to offer make up time so students can make up minutes from class. The State of Texas monitors the school year by minutes and not days. We are choosing to make up time in after school detention in place of summer school and Saturday school.
After School Detention-Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
Students will serve detention from 3:00-4:00 for excessive tardies, early checkouts, or unexcused absences.
3 tardies = 1 hour detention
5 early checkouts= 1 hour detention
Students will make up unexcused absences with 2 days of after school detention per absence.
Guidelines for School Attendance because of Illness
Your child will have many new experiences during this school year and that may include illnesses from a 24-hour virus to head lice! If your child is running fever (anything above 100), experiencing diarrhea, and/or vomiting. Please keep the student home for a minimum of 24 hours after the fever, diarrhea, and vomiting have stopped without the use of medication. This way we can protect the children in the classroom and your child from catching something else while their own defenses are down. Please send a note to the teacher when your child returns to school after an illness. Also, please send a copy of any medical information we might need (such as emergency reports or new orders from their doctor).
Questions about your student's attendance: Contact Regina at (903)295-5095.