The attendance policy applies to all students K-12. Suspensions are counted as unexcused absences. The Compulsory School Attendance Law in Tennessee (TCA-49-6-3001) requires children (ages 6-17 inclusive) to attend school each day. A student who has been absent five (5) days (this means an aggregate of five days during the school year and not necessarily five consecutive days) without adequate excuse is considered truant and may be summoned to court for as few as 5 absences (TCA-49-6-3007).

The following are “official/adequate excuses” that should be turned in to the Attendance Secretary in the school office:

• Medical note (doctor, dentist, hospital, etc.) for which the student was a patient

• Court note for which the student was required to be in court

• Funeral notice (obituary/funeral program of a family member)

• Military deployment paperwork-for military dependents, TN Law (TCA 49-6-3019) allows the following for out of country deployments:

• 1 excused absence when the parent leaves for deployment o 1 excused absence when the parent returns at the end of deployment

• Up to 10 days excused absences when the parent is home from the deployment for Rest and Recuperation

• In addition, local policy allows up to 5 consecutive days of excused absences (either before or after the deployment) when the parent deployment is less than 12 months

• Military paperwork/documentation MUST be provided to the school for these to be excused.

• Student absences for sickness not requiring a doctor’s visit will be excused up to five (5) days per school year, if a parent note is submitted. To be excused, notes must be provided by the parent or legal guardian, and received by the school within five (5) school days of the absence. For high school and middle school classes, an absence per class is defined as missing 10 or more minutes of the class period.

Make-up Work: Students are responsible for asking teacher for any make-up work for days absent or missed. Students will have one week to complete make-up assignments. All make-up work will receive 100% credit if completed within that time. After one week has passed, student will be assigned detention to complete work. If work is still not completed or student does not attend detention, a Saturday School will be assigned. This may vary, please see each school’s student handbook.