Absences at Lansing
There are 172 days of school. There are 188 days in the year that are not school days. For the 172 days of school, it is important that your child is at school. Here is a graphic to help understand the "why": AW-Infographic-2.12.1311 AW-Infographic-Spanish-4-8-13
Because attendance matters to the academic achievement and future of our students, we need to be vigilant about getting kids to school and the way to do this is to work as a team--parent, child and school personnel.
There are some simple things you can do at home to encourage attendance:
- Set a regular bedtime and morning routine.
- Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before.
- Find out what day school starts and make sure your child has the required shots. Introduce your child to her teachers and classmates before school starts to help her transition.
- Don't let your child stay home unless she is truly sick.
- Keep in mind complaints of a stomach ache or headache can be a sign of anxiety and not a reason to stay home.
- If your child seems anxious about going to school, talk to teachers, school counselors, or other parents for advice on how to make her feel comfortable and excited about learning.
- Develop back-up plans for getting to school if something comes up. Call on a family member, a neighbor, or another parent.
- Avoid medical appointments and extended trips when school is in session.
When you know your child has to be absent, please call the attendance line at school at 303-364-8297 Although the office hours are from 7:15am-3:15pm, this phone line is open to leave messages 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. Please call with your child's name, grade, teacher and reason for absence.
You can also report absences through the Lansing app. Once you open the app, in the top left hand corner are 3 lines, click on the lines and a drop down menu will appear. Click on Absence and you can fill out the absence form there on your form. When you need to be out for an extended time that is not related to illness, please complete a Parental Request for School Leave. You can come to the office to get this paper or you can download HERE and send it to the school in your child's backpack.
It is required by state law for school officials to have a procedure for communicating with families who have chronic attendance concerns.
Here is our process at Lansing:
- If a child misses 5 or more days per month not due to illness, we will call the parents at home to address concerns and make them aware of the number of absences. We will follow this communication with a letter sent to the home.
- If a child accumulates 5 or more tardies per month, we will call the parents at home to address concerns and make them aware of the number of tardies.
- If a child misses 9 or more days of school for any reason (illness included), we will contact families to inform and offer resources. A letter will be sent home to formally inform families.
- If a child misses 12 or more days of school for any reason (illness included), we will contact families to inform and begin an attendance plan with the parents and the child.
- After the attendance plan, we hope the child's attendance improves. If not, we will begin the truancy process with the local truancy court.
We know attendance matters and we want to work with parents to make sure students are at school everyday!