Tips to Improve Your Child's Attendance

 Ultimately, parents are responsible for getting their children to school. Here are a few tips to consider:

• Parents and guardians play a very important role regarding their children’s attendance.

• What happens if your child needs to see a doctor? If your child STARTS or ENDS the school day with proper documentation from the medical professional they have seen, you can schedule any doctor’s appointments and the child will be coded as PRESENT, as long as missed work is made up!
• If your child is ill, email the Attendance Clerk the morning of their absence.
• Arrive to school on time and attend every class period, especially the OAT—official attendance-taking period (the class period that contains 10:00 AM for high schools; 10:15 AM for middle schools; and, homeroom for elementary).
• Going to school every school day should be a good habit.

Parent Information About Attendance

Daily attendance in school is a strong indicator of future success.  In addition, students earn course credits by meeting the course requirements AND attending classes 90% of the time the class is offered, per the Texas Education Agency. If not, your student will not earn course credit nor be promoted to the next grade level. Attendance is a major factor for funding in FBISD!

For the current school year, students will be onsite at their prospective campus engaged in face-to-face academic instruction and attendance-taking.

There will be no remote learning options for attendance funding, per the State of Texas.

Per the Student Attendance Accounting Handbook provided by Texas Education Agency, a student is either present or absent at the official attendance-taking (OAT) time, known as SNAPSHOT.  Each campus attendance is determined by the number of students present at this very important designated snapshot time. All FBISD students should be on time daily and accounted for to ensure academic continuity and to maximize learning. Students who do not meet the 90% Texas-required attendance may be in jeopardy of being denied course credit or not being promoted to the next grade level. Each campus has a designated Campus Attendance Committee who meet regularly to determine and review students who are not complying with the 90% attendance mandate.

To ensure academic engagement and successful learning, all students should be present daily by snapshot and remain academically engaged all day:

• Elementary school snapshot time is 10:00 AM.
• Middle school snapshot time is 10:15 AM.
• High school snapshot time is 10:00 AM.

Parents and guardians should always submit absence notes to campus attendance clerks when their child is not present, even if the child is sent home. Submitting a note for an absence will be determined to be excused or unexcused by the attendance personnel on the campus. Parents and guardians should contact their child’s school if they have any questions. Unexcused absences can increase chances of truancy-based infractions against students.

Remember: all students should be present daily on or before snapshot (OAT) time. Failure to be in school once enrolled can result in a student not receiving course credit or not being promoted to the next grade level, per the Campus Attendance Committee. All denials of course credit or promotions are appealable.

Did you know?

Did you know?