Be Here TCS. – is intended to emphasize the impact school attendance can have on a student’s academic success starting in kindergarten and continuing through high school. Even as children grow older and more independent, families play a key role in ensuring students get to school safely every day and understand why attendance is so important for success in school and life.

We realize some absences are for health or other reasons. But when students are absent two or more days a month, they can fall far behind in what they learn. Excused and unexcused absences mean missing classroom learning time.

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction defines Chronic Absenteeism as missing 10% of instructional days (18 days per 180) for any reason– excused, unexcused, disciplinary – which is a risk factor for many adverse student outcomes. Research shows:

• A child who misses one day of school a week loses two months of education per year.

• Excused and unexcused absences have the same negative effects on student academic performance.

• Kindergarten and 1st-grade chronically absent students have an 81% higher chance of reading below grade level in 3rd grade.

• By 6th grade, chronic absenteeism becomes a leading indicator that a student will drop out of high school.

• Between 8th and 12th grade, a student who is chronically absent is 7.4 times more likely to drop out.

Regular attendance at school matters!

What can you do to help? Here are a few practical tips to help support regular attendance:

• Make sure your student keeps a regular bedtime and establishes a morning routine.

• Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before.

• Ensure your student goes to school every day unless he/she is truly sick.

• Avoid scheduling vacations or regular doctor’s appointments when school is in session.

• Talk to teachers and counselors for advice if your student feels anxious about attending school.

• Develop backup plans for getting to school if something comes up. Call on a family member, neighbor, or another parent to take your student to school.

Total Number of Absences: If a student is absent from school for eighteen (elementary or middle school) or nine (high school) or more days in a semester (including) unexcused and excused), the principal or a committee established by the principal shall determine the corrective and/or disciplinary consequences.

Days to Turn in Notes for Excused Absences: When a student must miss school, a written excuse, signed by the appropriate authority, must be provided to the school’s designee within five (5) school days, starting the day the student returns to school. If a note is not presented within the limit, the absence(s) will be unexcused.

Total Number of Notes Allowed Without Review by the School: A parent or legal guardian may provide a written note for up to ten (elementary and middle school) or five (high school) of their child's absences, which will be excused for reasons listed in TCS Regulation 4400-R, Section A, without further review by the school.

Days to Turn in Makeup Work: Students are required to make up work missed for all absences, excused or unexcused. Unless otherwise specified, students shall be given a maximum of five (5) days, starting the day he/she returns to school, to complete make-up work.

Click here to view the updated TCS student attendance policy regulation - 4400-R.