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    Despite the excellent cooperation most of you have shown and despite the considerable efforts exerted by the division, truancy – that is, the failure to attend school except for a valid reason – remains a serious problem for some of our students.  As you know, truancy often leads to academic failure, dropping out of school, crime in the community, and many other problems.  For those reasons, Virginia law requires that school-age children attend school and it requires that parents make sure their children attend school.  The law also requires that the school file legal proceedings against every parent and child who fails to comply with Virginia’s compulsory attendance laws.  In order to assist you in your parental and legal duties, and in order for us to comply with the laws, we are initiating a program and protocol to address truancy.  

    DAILY ABSENCES:
    Calls will be made via the automated calling system to notify the parent/guardian by telephone the day the student is absent from school. Even if the parent/guardian notifies the school that his/her child will be absent, the telephone call from the school will still be made.

    ADDITIONAL ABSENCES:
    When a student accumulates five (5) unexcused absences, the school will send an email informing the parent that their student has accumulated 5 unexcused absences and will then be asked to complete a contract describing how the parent will help to reduce or eliminate the unexcused absences. 

    EXCESSIVE ABSENCES:
    At the seventh (7) absence, the school will contact the parent via email, mail or phone to advise them of the additional absences. On the tenth (10) unexcused absence, a meeting will be held with the “Attendance Review Team”.Both the parent and student must attend this meeting at their home school. On the eleventh (11) unexcused absence, the parents and student must attend a meeting with the Truancy Team located at the courthouse to review and implement a new plan to help promote attendance. Additional absences could result in a request that the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court be notified. Parents may be served with a warrant for failure to obey the Compulsory School Attendance La    w.

    It will remain our policy that any student who has more than 20 unexcused absences during a school year must repeat the year unless there are extraordinary circumstances.  Should you have any questions or concerns at all about these policies and procedures, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. LeFevre and he will be pleased to discuss any of this with you.  As you know, we all share the same interest in seeing that your children receive a quality education that enables them to compete and succeed in our increasingly competitive and challenging world.