Attendance is important for students to succeed in school.

We want to see every child in school, every day!

Helpful tips for families:

• When your student is absent, you must send a written excuse note to school when they return. If we do not receive a written note, the absence will be unexcused.

• If your student has 5 unexcused absences, you will be required to develop a plan to improve attendance.  If your child continues to have unexcused absences after the plan has been created, then the truancy process will begin. 

• If your child misses 2 days per month, even if those absences are excused, they are considered chronically absent. Chronic absenteeism has been linked to failing grades, slower progress in reading and math, and to higher chances of dropping out before graduation. 

• We want to help! We understand that attendance can be hard at times. Let us know what is going on so we can work with you and help your student to succeed at school. 

If your student is missing school due to COVID-19 quarantine or other medical concerns, please let your school know right away. We want to work with you to keep your student on track and prevent learning loss!

Family Resources for Good Attendance

Visit Attendance Works for more information.

Attendance

Virtual Virginia: Meaningful interactions between the student and teacher are critical for student success in Virtual Virginia courses. Daily attendance will be recorded for Kindergarten through 5th grade through the required synchronous sessions.

Criteria for attendance will include presence and participation in scheduled daily synchronous sessions and submission/completion of student work in a given day. If a student cannot attend a synchronous session, the parent/guardian must notify the VVA instructor. The Virtual Virginia teacher will contact the parent/guardian and the local school mentor if a student is absent from a synchronous session. The parent/guardian will communicate directly with the VVA Division Coordinator regarding excused or unexcused absences.

ACPS Guidelines: If a student misses a synchronous session or did not engage in a course, they will be marked absent for that day. Elementary students are required to attend all daily synchronous sessions and engage in their coursework daily. 

If a student in grades 6-12 does not login for 4 consecutive days (including weekends) the mentor, student, parent/guardian and counselor will receive a no login or activity warning message.

Students who are identified by this system a second time, or who are inactive or fail to complete coursework over a second 4 calendar-day period, will be administratively withdrawn. A reinstatement conference involving the student, parent, counselor, mentor, and VVA administrator is required to reinstate students in a Virtual Virginia course, and the student will be placed on a Pace Recovery Plan (PRP). This will count as an attendance meeting for ACPS as well. The PRP is designed to support learners as they make up for missing coursework and catch up with their peers. Students who do not adhere to the PRP in its entirety will be administratively withdrawn from VVA courses.

ACPS will permanently remove the student from full-time VVA instruction once a 2nd withdrawal has occurred and will not be considered for re-enrollment in the Spring. Secondary students are required to engage in their coursework daily. The EWS and administrative withdrawal applies to all VVA students (elementary and secondary). 

Edmentum: Students must log in to Edmentum and complete work every day that school is in session to be marked present. If students do not complete any assignments, they will be marked absent for the day. Absences may be excused in accordance with ACPS attendance policies. Attendance meetings and truancy proceedings will take place as they would with traditional, in-person students. 

Homebound Instruction: Students will be available and participate in all appointments scheduled with the homebound instructor. Students will complete assignments provided by the homebound instructor before the next session. Participation in all scheduled sessions and work completion between sessions are both required to be marked present for the week. 

Parents/Guardians are responsible for scheduling the required number of instructional hours with the homebound teacher each week. If sessions are missed or a sufficient amount of instructional time is not scheduled, students will be marked absent for the week. Parents/Guardians are responsible for ensuring assigned work is completed between sessions and for signing the Work Log. Absences may be excused in accordance with ACPS attendance policies.  

Students with severe medical diagnoses that prevent regular instruction should provide documentation from the treating physician. These situations will be considered on an individual basis and may require a plan to keep the student on track academically.

Attendance is marked weekly. Missed instructional sessions will be marked absent according to the proportion of hours the student would be receiving homebound. For example, an elementary student who is to have 5 hours of homebound instruction and is absent for a 2 hour session will be marked absent for 2 days. A high school student who is to have 10 hours of instruction and misses a 2 hour session would be marked absent for 1 day. Round down on partial days.

Students who do not turn in work logs between sessions are marked absent for the week. They can complete the missing work to make up the absences before the grading period ends.