Silicon Valley Career Technical Education

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Attendance

Attendance

in this section:

Attendance

Absences

Chronic Absenteeism

Excusable Absences

Internship Attendance

Attendance

Student Absence Line: 408-723-4260

Regular participation through attendance is an important part of “Career and College Ready Practices”. SVCTE credits student attendance by the hour for the purpose of reporting on student certificates of completion and other program eligibility criteria. This attendance is counted as the total hours of the student’s enrollment less any hours of unexcused absence. (Excused absences are not deducted from the total.) Full days of absence, partial days of absence, and tardies (late arrivals) are all counted against the total credited hours.

Tardies or late arrivals often result in a lower grade, as this will often result in missed assignments. Any time away from class causes a student to miss assignments, and increases a student’s workload with the need to make up for the missed assignment. Career Readiness requires arriving on time regularly. Tardies are counted against credited attendance, rounding up to the nearest hour. Arriving late up to 60 minutes without an excuse (unexcused tardy) will deduct one hour from the student’s credited attendance total at SVCTE.
Excused absences allow for an extended deadline for students to complete work before late work penalties apply. See Late Work.
Unexcused absences do not extend the deadline for any assigned work. Work due during the absence can be turned in late according to the teacher’s Late Work policy with no accommodation for the absence.
All absences together count toward Chronic Absenteeism which is reported to home schools and may cause a student to be dropped from the SVCTE program.
SVCTE counts all hours of credited attendance (enrolled hours less any hours of unexcused absence) toward a student’s final certificate. Many certificates are not issued to those with less than 400 hours of credited attendance. A student with less than 85% credited attendance (i.e. more than 15% unexcused absence) will be ineligible for participation in Work-Based Learning or CTSO opportunities: this includes field trips, internships, SkillsUSA and HOSA competitions, and more.

In keeping with professional workplace/employment expectations, students should communicate with their teachers in advance whenever absences are expected. Students must make up all work missed during absences.

Attendance is credited by hour. Arriving late (unexcused tardy) will deduct one hour from a student’s credited attendance total. Tardies may be documented as excused due to late SVCTE buses or appropriate documentation such as a clinical appointment slip.

absences

When an absence is planned or occurs, the student’s parent/guardian must inform the Student Services office to excuse the absence. Absences can be reported in person, by calling the Student Absence Line: 408-723-4260, or by submitting an online form. Note that while SVCTE will record the absence regardless of whether a student or parent/guardian reports it, some absences require verification by a parent/guardian to be counted as excused. (AR 5113)

When a student is absent:

SVCTE will make daily automated emails and text messages to students and guardians for all absences not previously verified and/or excused.
A parent/guardian has three school days to contact SVCTE to excuse a student’s absence. Otherwise, unverified absences are recorded as unexcused.
After 3 unexcused absences in a semester, SVCTE will send a letter to parents/guardians, (a copy sent to school of origin’s counselor or administrator), to alert the student and their support network of the absences, and alert further absences will have a negative impact on grade, (possible failure), and may lead to attendance interventions steps.
6 unexcused absences in a semester, SVCTE will send a second letter to parents/guardians, (a copy sent to school of origin’s counselor or administrator), to set up a meeting with student and parent/guardian contact to review the negative impacts absences has on grades and establish an attendance improvement contract which also outlines next steps to the attendance process (may involve school/district of origin).
Continued pattern of unexcused absences following previous attempt to intervene will initiate additional follow-up and meetings to revisit the attendance improvement plan, and revise as appropriate to work toward daily class attendance and participation.

Chronic Absenteeism

Chronic absenteeism may result in withdrawal from SVCTE and loss of credits.

Chronic Absenteeism is missing 10 percent of school days in a school year for any reason, excused or unexcused (Education Code §60901). Silicon Valley Career Technical Education (SVCTE) students who have excess absences may be required to participate in an attendance contract, may be withdrawn from the SVCTE program, and may lose credits. (BP/AR 5113.1)

Any student with 9 or more absences (10% of the semester’s days) who is not participating successfully with an attendance improvement contract prior to the Progress I (5- or 6-week) grade period in any semester may be ineligible to continue the SVCTE Program in that semester. Adult students in this condition will be notified of the end of their enrollment and will receive no refund of tuition paid for that semester.

Excusable Absences

MetroED Administrative Regulation 5113 and California Education Code 48205 allow absences for these causes to be recorded as excused:

Illness, including an absence for the benefit of the pupil’s mental or behavioral health (2 days in a row require no note; 3 or more days in a row requires a note from a physician’s office stating the student should not attend class for the affected dates.)
Quarantine under the direction of a county or city health officer
Medical, dental, optometrical, or chiropractic services (appointment documentation required)
Funeral services of a member of the pupil’s immediate family - 1 day if the service is in California and up to 3 days if the service is outside California
Jury duty
Illness or medical appointment during school hours of a child of whom the pupil is the custodial parent, including absences to care for a sick child (no doctor’s note required)
Justifiable personal reasons, including, but not limited to, an appearance in court, attendance at a funeral service, observance of a holiday or ceremony of the pupil’s religion, attendance at a religious retreat, attendance at an employment conference, or attendance at an educational conference on the legislative or judicial process offered by a nonprofit organization, when the pupil’s absence is requested in writing by the parent or guardian and approved by the principal or a designated representative (only approved in advance; may not be requested retroactively)
Serving as a member of a precinct board for an election pursuant to Section 12302 of the Elections Code
Spending time with a member of the pupil’s immediate family who is an active duty member of the uniformed services, as defined in Section 49701, and has been called to duty for, is on leave from, or has immediately returned from, deployment to a combat zone or combat support position
Student’s naturalization ceremony to become a United States citizen
A cultural ceremony or event
Authorized at the discretion of a school administrator, as described in subdivision (c) of Section 48260.
Work in the entertainment or allied industry (Education Code 48225.5)
Work for a student who holds a work permit authorizing such work in the entertainment or allied industries for a period of not more than five consecutive days. For this purpose, student absence shall be excused for a maximum of up to five absences per school year. (Education Code 48225.5)
Participation with a nonprofit performing arts organization in a performance for a public school audience (Education Code 48225.5) (up to 5 days per school year with written explanation from parent/guardian)

Internship Attendance

Students participating in an internship, but not concurrently with their SVCTE class schedule will be expected to attend class on campus, and provided work space to continue their education.

Students who are not on campus at SVCTE will be marked absent.
A student will submit time cards to show when they attended their internship.
In order to record absence correctly, SVCTE office will receive weekly internship time cards no later than 5 school days after the end of the week and will turn those in to SVCTE teacher within 1 school day.
Students must attend SVCTE class at the regularly scheduled session time whenever they are not attending an internship during that hour.
If a student fails to turn in a timesheet each week (and/or fails to attend SVCTE)...