Chester Community Charter School

CHESTER COMMUNITY

CHARTER SCHOOL

Attendance Handbook

2020 - 2021

STUDENT ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY POLICY

The Board of Trustees (“Board”) requires that students enrolled at the Chester

Community Charter School (“Charter School”) attend school daily and on time in

accordance with the compulsory attendance laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Parents or guardians are required to ensure that their children attend school every day

that school is in session through the procedures required by the Charter School.

The education program offered by the Charter School is based upon the presence of the

student and requires continuity of instruction and classroom participation.

The Chief Executive Officer or his/her designee shall have the responsibility to develop

procedures following the guidelines developed by the Board to assure that students

attend school regularly and that said procedures comply with all Federal, State and local

laws.

A component of the procedures shall be an early intervention process to assure that

assistance is given to students who are experiencing problems in attending school.

Attendance and punctuality procedures will be delineated in the Student Handbook and

distributed to every student.

Said attendance and punctuality guidelines are subject to periodic review by the entire

Board of Trustees.

Chester Community Charter School

Attendance Guidelines

Students who attend CCCS as virtual learners will meet attendance requirements by

logging into the (Schoology) learning portal each school day. Once in Schoology,

students will have access to their classes and will be able to engage in live video

lessons with their teachers and complete class assignments.

The Chester Community Charter School hours are 8:30 am – 3:30 pm. Any student

who comes to school after 8:45 a.m. is considered late, including students who are

learning virtually. At 10:30 a.m. the automatic dialing system will begin to notify parents

that students are absent.

It is expected that parents will turn in excuse notes on the day a child returns to school

following an absence. Three or more absences that are NOT followed with an excuse

note from a parent will lead to truancy. For students receiving virtual instruction, parents

must submit excuse notes via www.chestercommunitycharter.org through the

“FAMILIES” portal drop down tab on our schools’ website and complete the ‘absent &

tardy form’ for submission. Attendance department will respond to the inquiry within 24

hours.

Please Note: Excessive absences can result in retention in grade. Such decisions

at the discretion of the CEO in consultation with teachers and administrators.

Excused absences include:

Failure of the bus to arrive at the bus stop

Personal illness

Medical and dental examination and/or treatment of the student when

such appointments cannot be scheduled other than during school hours

Death in the family of the parent/guardian or close family member

Observation of a religious holiday

Emergency conditions in the student’s home (upon students

return, documentation is necessary)

Ex: Major Utility Failure

Power Outage

Fire

Excused absences DO NOT include:

Uniform issues

Vacations

Anything that is not considered “excused” as noted above

Extended Medical Absences: For any student absent for medical reasons for 10

consecutive days, the parent/guardian must provide a written note/certification from

a doctor’s office.

COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AND TRUANCY LAW

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has laws in place that compel children to attend

school and impose potential sanctions upon parents who have truant children. The

following list explains CCCS’ unexcused absence procedures.

1. All absences are unexcused unless a written excuse is received explaining

the reason specific to the absence.

2. Upon returning to school, parents/guardians should submit (either in person

or through their student) a written explanation of the absence.

3. If parents do not provide a written excuse within three days of the student

returning to school, reasonable allowances may be made to accept a parent’s

explanations for the absence without initiating any punitive response. Some

notes may not be accepted, depending on the excuse and/or format.

Examples include absent notes submitted by anybody outside of the

parent/legal guardian and also submitting online absent forms where all

required fields are not completed properly before submission.

4. If a third unexcused absence occurs, the school will notify the parents in writing

within ten (10) days of the third unexcused absence sent as a “First Notice”.

5. After the ‘First Notice” has been served, and if no improvement has occurred

in student attendance, and after a 6

unexcused absence, a Student

Attendance Improvement Plan (SAIP) conference will be initiated. The school

will initiate the SAIP conference and will contact the parent/guardian regarding

the date and time of the meeting. The parent/guardian’s presence at this

conference is strongly encouraged. However, if a parent is unable to attend,

the conference will be held without the parent/guardian’s presence, and the

outcomes mailed to them. The SAIP represents a collaborative effort between

school officials and the parent/guardian to improve student attendance.

NOTE:

3 unexcused absences - a student is TRUANT.

6 unexcused absences - a student is HABITUALLY

TRUANT. The student will be referred to either school or

community-based attendance improvement programs or

Children and Youth Agency. CCCS may file a citation which

would result in a proceeding before a magisterial district judge,

provided a School Attendance Improvement Conference

(“Conference”) has already been held and is not pending.

10 unexcused absences – Students who miss ten school days without

a valid excuse will be referred to the county Children and Youth

Agency, and the Chester Community Charter School Social

Worker will be contacted. CCCS will file a citation, which will

result in a proceeding before a magisterial district judge.

Online/Remote Learning Attendance Expectations

Attendance in our Distance Learning Program is defined as evidence of

“engaging with

the assigned material.”



Virtual Classroom (VC) - Live Session Attendance in assigned live virtual

classrooms is mandatory for any student enrolled in virtual learning. Failure to

attend an assigned virtual class session in any given subject area may result in

an unexcused absence for the individual course session unless a valid excuse

is provided within three (3) calendar days to:

1. The homeroom teacher

2. The attendance department



No Internet Access, Power Outage, or Technology Failure Internet access -

Computer access is essential for all virtual learners. In the event of internet

failure, power outage, or computer failure, and there are no feasible options

available, notification to the following must be made within 24 hours:

1. The homeroom teacher

2. The students’ assigned building

3. The attendance Department



Evidence of attendance will be measured in multiple ways: (including, but

not limited to):

1. Logging into Schoology by 8:30 am and attending all remote

learning sessions

2. Interaction with a teacher/instructor on an instructional day

3. Google Check-in forms

4. Assignments submitted that were due on that day

5. Questions to answer on Google Classroom

6. Participation in an online discussion

7. Google Form requesting receipt of assignment or instructions

8. Class participation during the scheduled class time

9. Student participation during scheduled related services

It is expected that parent/guardians shall, to the maximum extent

possible, ensure that their child participates in the distance learning

program. If a student will not be able to participate in any learning

activities that day, a parent can email or use all appropriate contact

methods to the student’s homeroom teacher and the student’s

assigned building.

Note: If a

student

does not

participate

in the

majority

of the

learning

activities

for the day or has not

checked

with

their

assigned

teacher and has

failed

by the

deadline,

that

student

will

marked absent

for the

day.

CCCS Virtual Learning Attendance Protocols

The CCCS virtual learning plan includes requirements related to school attendance,

including how the school will document participation in learning opportunities. CCCS

will be reporting attendance within the learning sessions and platforms utilized by

teachers and students. Attendance tracking will comprise several approaches to

account for the differences between in-school activities, teacher-led virtual learning,

and self-directed virtual learning.

1. Teacher-led virtual learning: Active participation in virtual classroom activities

and discussions in all assigned live or recorded sessions are mandatory for any

student enrolled in virtual learning. Failure to attend assigned virtual class

sessions in any given subject area may result in an unexcused absence for the

individual course session or the entire school day unless a valid excuse is

provided within three (3) calendar days to the homeroom teacher and the

Attendance Department.

2. Self-directed virtual learning: Evidence of participation in assignments and

schoolwork outside the live virtual classrooms may include, but is not be limited

to:

Daily login to the (Schoology) learning portal each school day.

Daily interactions with the teacher(s)

o Examples of daily interactions between teachers and students

could include, but are not limited to, messages, emails,

telephone calls, video chats or other formats that enable

teachers to engage with students.

Tracking Absences:

1. Excused absences: Any circumstances for which an excuse note is received,

regardless of whether the particular time frame covered by the excuse is part of

an in-school experience or a virtual experience, should be recorded based on

past practice and policy.

2. No evidence of exposure, engagement or participation: If there is no

evidence that the student participated or engaged in any way in virtual learning,

then the student will be marked absent.

Online/Remote Learning Attendance Expectations

It is expected that parents/guardians shall, to the maximum extent possible, ensure that

their child participates in the virtual learning program. If a student will not be able to

participate in any learning activities that day, a parent can email or use all appropriate

contact methods to communicate with the student’s homeroom teacher and/or the

student’s assigned building.

Students who attend CCCS as Virtual learners will meet attendance requirements by

logging into the (Schoology) learning portal each school by 8:30 am and attending all

remote learning sessions.

Elementary Buildings K-5:

Monday through Thursday

1. Daily morning attendance will be taken between 8:30 am and 9:30 am and

reported by teachers in eschool by 10:15 am. Attendance will then be

monitored by teachers throughout the school day.

2. Afternoon “check-in” attendance is re-taken between 1:30 pm and 3:00 pm. If

a student was marked “present” in the morning and then was not present

throughout the day, the teacher is expected to go back into eschool and correct

the attendance record to “absent” before 5:00 pm that day. Likewise, if a

student misses the morning check-in, but then attends the majority of

classroom sessions across the day, the teacher is expected to go back into

eschool before 5:00 pm and correct the originally entered “absence” to

“present.”

Flipped Friday

3. Every Friday, a “Touch-Base Meeting” will be scheduled between 8:30am and

9:00am to review the remote work for the day with their homeroom teacher. It

will be an opportunity to briefly review the day’s assignments, work due by the

end of the day, and to ensure all students understand the assignments.

 This “Touch-Base Meeting” will be used to enter attendance in

e-school.

 Before 5:00pm, teachers should have corrected any attendance issues

in e-school cases where they have evidence that students who were

not present at the morning “Touch Base Meeting” have completed the

daily assignments.

Middle School 6-8

Monday through Thursday

1. Daily morning attendance will be taken between 8:30 am and 9:30 am and

reported by homeroom teachers in eschool by 10:15 am. Attendance should

be recorded by period throughout the school day.

Flipped Friday

2. Every Friday, a homeroom “Touch-Base Meeting” with students will be scheduled

between 8:30 am and 9:00 am (the responsibility of the homeroom teacher) to

review the remote work for the day. It will be an opportunity to briefly review the

day’s assignments, work due by the end of the day, ensure all students

understand the assignments, etc.

Homeroom teachers will need to coordinate with their students’ subject-specific

teachers during the afternoon before or morning before the “Touch-Base

Meeting” to ensure that students are given all relevant information regarding the

day’s assignments in each of the courses.

 Based on attendance during this “Touch-Base Meeting,” attendance

should be recorded in e-school

 Before 5:00 pm, teachers should correct attendance in e-school in

cases where they have evidence that students who were not present

at the morning session completed the daily assignments. They will

need to communicate with students’ subject-specific teachers to

make this determination