Attendance Office

Attendance Policy

The Texas Compulsory School Attendance Law requires that a student between the ages of 6 and 18 must attend school day for the entire period that a school's program of instruction is provided. School employees must investigate, report, and if necessary, prosecute violations of the state compulsory attendance law.

According to the Texas Education Code 21.041, students must be in attendance 90% of the instructional days each semester to receive credit for any class. A student who attends fewer than 90% of the days the class is offered cannot receive credit for the class unless the attendance committee finds that the absences are the result of extenuating circumstances or allow the student to make up the time to restore credit.

Failure to attend school (truancy)

Any absence from a scheduled class without prior administrative approval, or proper documentation on file, will be recorded as unexcused.
Students who are absent from school for the entire day, or any portion of the day without permission from a parent or school official will be considered truant and will be subject to disciplinary and possible legal action.
Students who leave campus and fail to sign out and receive proper authorization to leave campus will be considered truant. Absences that occur in conjunction with unauthorized departure from campus will be counted as unexcused.
If a student accumulates unexcused absences that total ten (10) days or parts of days in a six (6) month period, the student and the parent or guardian may be prosecuted for violation of the Compulsory Attendance Law. Please note that truancy will be filed on a student’s twelfth (12th) tardy in a semester of a school year.

Contact Information

Ashley Hart

Attendance Clerk

Jeremiah Sims

Attendance Clerk

Verification of Enrollment Information

Verification of Enrollment Form

Denial of Credit Due to Absences

The Texas Education Code 25.092 requires all students to be in attendance 90% of the time in a school year in order to receive credit in a class. Any student who is absent (excused & unexcused) more than 10% of the class days, for anything other than a school related absence, will automatically be denied credit, and coded "At Risk" of not graduation. However, students can complete an appeal form if there are reasons for the absences. After completing the form, the attendance committee will convene to review the student's situation. For further questions please contact the WHS attendance office.

Exemptions to Compulsory Attendance

The following are excusable absences with proper documentation.

Religious holy days
Required court appearances
Citizenship
Medical
Funeral
Students in the conservatorship (custody) of the state

For more details see the following topics:

Acceptable Excuse Notes

Students who have been absent for any reason (other than school-related) and for any portion of the day, must submit a doctor or parent note within three school days of returning to class. Please see the following for instructions on how to submit each type of note.

Doctor’s note - may be faxed or submitted to the attendance office.
Documentation from a court of law or other government entity that student was required to be present for - may be faxed or submitted to the attendance office.
A handwritten note with a parent signature submitted to the attendance office
Digital parent notes may be submitted through Skyward Family Access by following these steps:
- Click on attendance tab from the main menu
- Click Absent request button
- Enter the date(s)
- Select yes/no all-day absence (if only partial day specify the time of absence)
- Leave reason for absence in the comment section
- Submit

Acceptance of notes

Wylie East may refuse to accept parent notes as excused absences if deemed unacceptable or if absences are excessive as determined by the school administration.

Only six parent notes will be accepted per semester.
No phone calls or emails can be accepted in order to excuse a student absence.
Notes may be verified for authenticity. Any note that is found to be forged may result in disciplinary action.

All notes must include:

Reason for the absence
Date(s) of absence
The phone number for verification
Student’s school ID number
Name and contact information of doctor or court (for doctor and court visits)

**If a student leaves early for any reason, they must still bring a note to get the absence excused. This includes if the parent checked them out in the front office

Partial Day Absence:

A temporary absence from an appointment with a health care professional for the student or the student’s child will be excused if the student commences or returns to school on the same day of the appointment. To be eligible for a medical excuse:

Student must attend at least one class on the day of the appointment.
Turn in documentation from the health care facility to the attendance office within 3 school days of returning to school.
If you have been absent for any reason, not including school-related, and for any portion** of the day you must bring a note to the Attendance Office within 3 school days of returning to class.

Returning To School After An Absence

Upon returning to school after an absence, students must bring an acceptable excuse note (please see above), giving the reason for the absence, date(s) of the absence(s), and a telephone number for verification.

A student who is absent and does not provide proper documentation within 72 hours upon his/her return to school will have the absence recorded as unexcused.

When a student’s absence for personal illness exceeds five (5) consecutive days, the student shall present a statement from a doctor or health clinic verifying the illness or condition that caused the student’s extended absence from school. (District Local Code).

School-Related Absences / Extracurricular Activity Absences

Students are encouraged to participate in school-sponsored or school-sanctioned extracurricular activities. Occasionally these activities require that students be absent from class. These absences are considered excused (school-related) and do not require any additional documentation from the student or parent.

Students who are absent from school will not be allowed to participate in any school-related activities on the day or evening of the absence.

College Visits

Visits to colleges or universities are permitted for juniors and seniors and will be classified as excused absences under the following guidelines:

Students are only allowed up to two days excused absence per school year for college visits.
The student must provide an official document for verification of the visit from the college or university to the attendance office within three days of the student’s return to school. Examples of this document include but are not limited to something on letterhead from the accredited institution of higher learning confirming the student’s attendance at the visit, an email confirmation of meeting with school personnel from the college or university, or an official agenda of the orientation.

Please contact the attendance clerk with any questions PRIOR to your visit.

Regaining Attendance Credit

A student that attended at least 75% of class time but less than 90% and who has been denied credit will be able to make-up the time missed and regain the credit up to 25 hours as communicated on the attendance recovery contract (which will be delivered to any students needing credit recovery).

The deadline to makeup time will be indicated on the student notification of Attendance Failure. No hours will be accepted after the deadline has passed. Failure to makeup hours prior to the deadline will result in a permanent loss of credit.

Student Check Out Procedures

Students must stay on campus once they arrive and may not leave without a signed pass from the attendance office. Juniors/seniors may leave for lunch.

Parent pickup: Sign out at the front office.
Leaving during the day: Needs a written parent note (turned in within 3 days) and front-office permission.
Unauthorized leaving: May result in discipline or loss of parking privileges.
Visitors: Must check in at the main office for a pass.
Illness/injury: Nurse must clear early dismissal.

Leaving without authorization or sign-out counts as truancy.

Tardy Violation Consequences

Prior to having truancy filed the school uses the following schedule for consequences based on tardies, which reset each semester.

Students are expected to be in their designated classrooms when the tardy bell rings. The passing periods are five to seven minutes, depending on the location of the classroom. Once the tardy bell rings, teachers will close and lock their doors. Students who are tardy should report to room 216 to receive a tardy pass before returning to class. Students who accumulate their fifth tardy will receive a discipline referral. Discipline will be administered and discipline will escalate with each subsequent tardy. Persistent violations may result in more serious disciplinary actions and/or truancy being filed on their twelfth tardy in a semester. Please note that a tardy of more than ten minutes will be considered an absence. Tardy count resets at the semester.

1^st-4^th: Noted in Tardy Eliminator and parent email
5^th: 30 minute lunch detention and parent phone call
6^th-7^th: Noted in Tardy Eliminator and parent email
8^th: 1 day In-School Suspension (ISS) and parent phone call
9^th-10^th: Noted in Tardy Eliminator and parent email
11^th: 1 day ISS, Attendance Plan, Behavior Contract, and parent phone call