Attendance Info

The Shawnee Mission School District attendance policy is available under the Attendance Matters header under News.

Understanding Attendance

As the school year gets underway, we wanted to share attendance information with your families.  This will cover everything from how to report attendance and understanding letters that you might receive throughout the year regarding absences. 

How to Report Attendance

There are 4 ways to report attendance

·        Skyward Family Access 24/7 – Under the Absence tab you will see a button that says Absence Request.  Make sure to fill out all of the requested information.  Please do not use it for early dismissals as those are handled differently.

·        Rushton Attendance Line 24/7 – Call 913-993-4988 and leave a detailed message – child’s name, reason for the absence, etc.

•      Email rushtonattendance@smsd.org

·        Call the school office between 7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Please do not email or message attendance issues to the teacher, nurse or office.  This becomes an issue if a staff member is absent or forgets to share the information.  This could mean a call to you to find out why your child is not in school.

Attendance Guidelines

·        Attendance is tracked from 8:10 – 3:10

·        8:10 – 8:45 would be considered a tardy (10 tardies = 1 unexcused absence)

·        After 8:45 and before 11:30 would be a ½ day a.m. absence

·        After 11:30 and before 2:15 would be a ½ day p.m. absence

·        From 2:15 – 3:10 would be considered a tardy

Attendance Letters you might receive

Tardy Letters – This will notify you of how many tardies your child has so you can work toward getting the child here on time.  They can arrive as early as 7:40 for breakfast or sit in the gym and are dismissed to class at 8:00 a.m.

·        Attendance Warning Letter – If your child accumulates 7 excused absences you will receive a warning letter letting you know that you are getting close to 10 absences. 

·        Excessive Absence Letter – If your child reaches 10 excused absences, we will send a letter that lets you know that any further absences will require a written doctors note to be excused.  If our school nurse tells you your child needs to be gone due to illness, this will excuse the absence as well.

·        Truancy Warning Letter – if you child has unexcused absences, you will receive a truancy warning letter.  State guidelines state 3 unexcused absences in a row, 5 in a semester or 7 in a school year.  This is our guideline for when we would issue a truancy warning letter.

 

Other Information

·        If your child is going to have an extended absence, please email the principal kristyfornal@smsd.org for approval.  Once she has approved she will communicate this information to the attendance office.

·        If your child is going to be absent for any reason, please make sure that you report the absence using 1 of the 3 options shown.  If we do not hear from a family, then we must contact you for the reason.  If we are unable to reach anyone, the absence will be input as unexcused.

 

Please reach out to the office if you have any questions regarding attendance and we will do our best to assist you.

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To Report an Absence:  If your child is going to be absent from school or arriving late due to an appointment, you must notify the school.  There are 4 ways you can notify the school of an absence.

1.  Call the attendance line 24/7 and leave a message– 913-993-4988.  Please leave a detailed message and make sure to include your child’s name, teacher and why they will not be here or why they will be arriving late. 

2.  Log into your Skyward Family Access account anytime and click on the Report and Absence link and complete the steps.  See the links below for instruction on how to use

3.  Call the office during office hours and pass the message along in person.

4.  Email rushtonattendance@smsd.org  this account is monitored by 3 different people in the building so 1 of the 3 of us will see the email and records the absence.

Reporting and Absence on the Skyward Mobil App click here for Spanish version

Reporting and Absence on a Desktop on Skyward click here for Spanish version

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Attendance Letters to Families:  Regular and on-time attendance at school is a state law.  If your child starts having attendance issues, then letters will be sent home to the family.  

1.  Tardy Warning Letter - If your child arrives at school after the 8:10 bell, then they come through the office to receive a tardy slip.  This information is input into Skyward showing the tardy and what time they arrive.  After you receive several tardies, you will receive a Tardy Warning letter.   Shawnee Mission School District sees 10 tardies as 1 unexcused absence

2.  Attendance Warning Letter - Once your child has 7 absences, you will receive the attendance warning letter.  This letter is to make you aware how many excused and unexcused absences your child has.  Once your child reaches 10 absences this will trigger the Excessive Absence Letter.

3. Excessive Absence Letter - At 10 absences your family will receive the Excessive Absence Letter.  This letter states that we must receive written authorization for an absence to be excused.  This means if you are calling your child in sick or for an appointment, then we will require a doctors note to excuse the absence.  You can also have our school nurse asses your child to determine if they can be at school or not.  If you have an out of town trip planned, then you can email Mrs. Fornal with the information for approval.  Her approval can also excuse an absence.