16K455 Boys and Girls High School
Dr Grecian Harrison, Principal
Every Student, Every Day Attendance Policy 2024-2025
Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year!
We are excited to share our school’s Every Student, Every Day Attendance Policy and Plan. This policy and plan will hopefully provide you with the information and guidance you need to help you help your child attend and stay in school.
OUR SCHOOL COMMUNITY’S ATTENDANCE GOAL
Attendance matters. Missing a day of school means missing hours of instructional time. Our school’s collective goal for attendance remains the same. We want every child attending school every day or at least 95% of the school year.
ATTENDANCE TAKING
Official Daily Attendance is taken during period 3. However, class (Period) attendance is taken every day in every class. If a student is marked late for periods 1 and 2, they will be marked late for school. Students are required to use their ID cards in the morning to swipe into machines in the lobby but this is for safety and security, not to record official student attendance. In addition, our Community-Based Organization, Counseling in Schools, conducts daily check-ins with students at the scanning area and provides ongoing outreach and support to address attendance issues.
KEY DEFINITIONS:
Present - A student is physically present in the classroom/school learning environment for instruction during the scheduled school day.
Absent - A student is not physically present in the classroom school learning environment for instruction during the scheduled school day. Student is in the school building but not attending any classes or not meeting with a guidance counselor or other licensed pedagogue.
ABSENCES:
If you know your child is going to miss school on a certain day or will be missing school for an extended period of time, please notify your child’s teachers and guidance counselor.
While every single absence is equal to missed instructional time, these absences will be marked as explained and unexplained accordingly. We are asking all parents and guardians to provide us with information on the reason for your child’s absence. Here is what you need to know regarding excused and unexcused absences:
- Explained absence: Absence may be excused for reasons including illness or injury, family emergency, religious observation, pre-arranged appointments.
- Unexplained absence: Unexcused absence is when too little to no information is provided when a student is marked absent for the day.
Students should bring a signed and dated absence note to room 119 upon returning to the building.
LATENESS:
Even if a student is late, they are still marked as present. Students are required to check in with the attendance staff person in 119 if they arrive late or they will be marked absent.
COMMUNICATION WITH FAMILIES:
Our school uses the following methods to communicate with families about attendance:
Attendance Information is available on NYSCA. Parents may receive texts and/or emails during the day if students are marked absent or late for the day.
In addition, we also utilize PowerSchool (formerly known as Kinvolved) to build positive, two-way relationships between the school and families via automated communication and messaging.
At Boys and Girls High School, we understand that it is very important for the school to have families’ up-to-date contact information. To make sure we can reach you, please alert us of any changes to your address or phone number by contacting your student’s guidance counselor.
LEAVING EARLY:
This section explains our school’s policy for a student’s early departure from the school day. If your child is going to leave early on a certain day, a parent/guardian or person identified on the Blue Card must go to the main office with a photo ID, to sign the student out.
ATTENDANCE AND MAKE-UP WORK:
If a child is absent or late, grades, coursework, or exams could be affected. Please refer to the grading policy for missing/make-up work.
Lateness to or absence from class may result in a lower class average due to the loss of instructional time in activities such as: classroom participation, examinations (quizzes/full period exams), speeches, group work, lab work, etc. Students are not required to make up the exact hours of missed instructional time. If students master course content and satisfactorily meet expectations outlined in the syllabus, they will receive credit for the course.
ATTENDANCE CORRECTION:
If a student is marked present or absent by mistake, the student should see our attendance teacher, Mrs. Shannel Tunney, and request an attendance correction form that they will need to get signed by their teachers.
ATTENDANCE SUPPORTS AND INTERVENTIONS AT BGHS:
Students who are frequently absent will be connected to a caring adult who will support students in reducing absenteeism through outreach, counseling and emotional support. Students will be linked to enrichment clubs and academic support, if needed.
CONTACT:
The Attendance Office is located in Room 122J. You can reach the attendance office through the main school phone number: 718-467-1700 Extension 1232. Please note that we will only be able to discuss attendance with the parent/guardian listed in our system. To confirm that we are speaking with a parent/guardian, we will ask you some identifying questions. You should have your student’s ID number ready as well.
https://www.schools.nyc.gov/school-life/school-environment/attendance
School Supports:
One or more absences/lateness:
- Teacher will place a phone call to the parent or guardians.
- Paraprofessional will place a phone call to the parent or guardians.
- Calls, letters, email correspondence, and other communication modes will be conducted to address attendance.
- Teachers and Paraprofessionals will share all information regarding attendance concerns with the AP Supervision.
- Meeting with a Guidance Counselor and/or Success Coach.
- Referral to Social Worker.
- Referral to SAPIS Counselor.
- The Attendance Team will conduct progress monitoring of attendance initiatives and outreach efforts.
Ten or more absences:
Guidance Counselor will work with the Attendance Teacher and identify students who are eligible for a code 12 investigation. A "code 12 attendance investigation" in the context of the New York City Department of Education refers to a specific type of investigation launched when a student is excessively absent from school, often indicating a situation where the student might be considered "unlocatable" or have a "no-show" status, requiring further investigation to determine the reason behind their absences and potential next steps to address the issue.
Home visits will be conducted for all families that have not responded to outreach or communication from the school.
The school will initiate a PIF if a student stops attending school. The school will continue outreach efforts and work with students and families to ensure that they understand the importance of the impact that poor attendance has on their academic performance.
Every Student, Every Day