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Attendance

General Expectation

There is a clear and positive correlation between students' learning and consistent and prompt attendance. Absence and tardiness are counter productive to educational success and can never truly be made up by the student. Lack of consistent attendance means that students will not get the full benefit of the courses offered at Fort Morgan High School. To ensure academic success, FMHS expects student attendance rates to be at a minimum of 95%, and for students to arrive to classes on time.

In addition, students who are absent from or tardy to class infringe upon the rights of those students in attendance and their teachers by disrupting the normal flow of an instructional program and by causing teachers to unnecessarily repeat and review information and materials previously covered. Students should take into account the TOTAL number of days missed for a class or classes even for legitimate reasons such as driver’s license appointments, college visits, medical appointments, field trips, in-school field trips, etc.

Communications to Students and Home

Students and parents will have access to up-to-date information concerning attendance via the Student and Parent Portals of
Infinite Campus, Remind alerts, emails, and daily announcements. Additional methods of communication include FMHS Facebook
page, flyers in Canvas and the screen on Riverview Ave in front of FMHS.

Dismissal During the School Day

For the safety and security of our school and students, we must know the whereabouts, including the comings and goings, of all students during the school day. Students are REQUIRED to sign in and out at the Main Office if they are leaving or coming to school during the school day. Absences of students who do not sign in or out will be considered unexcused. Once students have reported to school, they are expected to remain in school and attend classes all day. Under the following conditions, a student may have an excused dismissal:

  • Under rare or emergency circumstances, prior to dismissal, a written request from a parent must be presented or a phone call must be received by the Attendance Secretary. A parent may come to the office and personally request dismissal.
  • In case of illness while in school, the student must report to the nurse’s office. Students who become ill in school and report to areas other than the nurse’s office (cafeteria, restrooms, off campus) will be considered “unexcused”. The nurse or nurse’s designee, with parental permission, will make the decision to dismiss the student from school. Once the nurse or nurse’s designee has obtained permission to dismiss the student, the student will be issued a dismissal pass.
  • Appointments With Fort Morgan High School Staff. Students who have class commitments such as tests or major graded assignments should request that appointments with counselors, Assistant Principal, Principal, etc., be rescheduled so that they can fulfill classroom commitments prior to the meeting.

Extracurricular Activities & Athletes 

Students are expected to be in school on days they participate in extracurricular activities, competitions, performances, meetings, practices, etc. Students must be in attendance for the last three periods prior to the activity. Exceptions are:

  1. Required college or military appointments (college visitations that can be scheduled on other days will not be exempted.)
  2. Mandatory court appearances.
  3. Funerals.
  4. Dental or medical appointments that cannot be made at other times.
  5. Other situations with advance approval from an administrator.

If a student has a doctor appointment or mandatory court appearance, he/she must bring a note from the doctor or court official to verify the absence with the attendance office. In all cases, students are encouraged to make arrangements for their absence in advance in the Main Office. Students should also check with their coach or sponsor prior to their departure to make sure they will be able to participate.

Field Trips & Attendance

Eligible students are responsible for communicating with teachers about making up assignments when they miss class due to a field trip or other school activity.

A teacher can recommend that a student not be allowed to go on an out of school trip if the student’s grade is failing or if the absence would cause harm to the regular course of study, such as missing a test.


Field trips may potentially involve risks and responsibilities for your child that are beyond the scope of those normally associated with educational activities at school. Such risks are personal injury and/or damage to personal property. Students attending a field trip are required to fill out a Student Permission Form (provided by the field trip sponsor/teacher). To account for all students, passengers are required to be on the list of the appropriate driver. Students 18 years of age or older are still required to provide the Student Permission Form and get approval from the principal and/or designee prior to participating in a field trip event.

Parent/Guardian Responsibilities Regarding Attendance

By 9th grade, attendance is a better predictor of graduation rates than 8th grade test scores. Research shows that good attendance is strongly related to academic achievement. It is very important for students to arrive on time to all their classes every day to maximize their opportunities to learn, practice, and demonstrate their learning.

  1. Parents/guardians are responsible for communicating to the school the reason for all absences. If your child is absent from school, a parent or guardian should call the attendance line at 970-370-6690 within 48 hours of the absence, and provide the following information:
  2. the student’s name.
  3. the date(s) of the absence(s).
  4. the specific reason for the absence(s), tardy or dismissal.
  5. the name of the parent.
  6. a daytime phone number where a parent can be reached to verify the call.

“Blanket” notes covering unspecified dates of absences, tardiness, etc. will not be accepted as an excuse for absences.

As FMHS receives over 50 attendance calls per day, our attendance secretary may not answer your call, so please leave a message at 970-370-6690 in order for our secretary to change the attendance in Infinite Campus. The attendance secretary will not return phone calls unless additional information in needed.

The Attendance Office will only go back 48 hours to excuse previous absences unless informed otherwise by Principals, a valid doctor note, or by Court documents.

The Attendance Office is NOT responsible for fixing attendance mistakes between a student and teacher. It will be your student’s responsibility to speak with their teacher involved to fix attendance mistakes. If a correction needs to be made the teacher will then make the adjustments with the Attendance Office.

Excused Absences

MCSD Re-3 policy JH lists the following as excused absences:

  • A student who is temporarily ill or injured or whose absence is approved by the administrator of the school on a prearranged basis. Prearranged absences shall be approved for appointments or circumstances of a serious nature only which cannot be taken care of outside of school hours.
  • A student who is absent for an extended period due to physical, disability or a mental or behavioral health disorder.
  • A student who is pursuing a work-study program under the supervision of the school.
  • A student who is attending any school-sponsored activity or activities of an educational nature with advance approval by the administration.
  • A student who is suspended or expelled.

Unexcused Absences

Any absence that is not listed in the excused section above is considered unexcused. Only in extenuating circumstances will an
absence not listed above be considered excused, based on approval by the principal.

FMHS may request confirmation from a doctor to explain specific and frequent absences which have occurred due to medical reasons. When absences for medical reasons are frequent, parents/guardians must submit official documentation from a doctor that verifies a chronic illness exists. Medical documentation for long-term absences should include the nature of the illness, any limitations on the student, inclusive dates of medical condition, and specific dates of the absence covered. This documentation also strengthens a student’s case in an appeal for submission of work missed due to absences.

As with parent notes, doctor’s notes-must specifically address dates of absences, and may not be blanket excuses for all absences which have occurred over a period of time. This information must be presented on an on-going basis, and not at the end of a course or term.

Pre-planned Absences 

If you need to check your child out of class early for an appointment, we request that you call 970-370-6690 at least one (1) hour in advance, so that we can send an Early Dismissal pass and reduce class disruption. Your child must bring their Early Dismissal pass to the main office to check-out with our attendance secretary. Failure to do so, will result in an unexcused absence. Parents should pick students up for appointments at our main, northwest entrance.

Any anticipated absence of 3 or more days, such as college visitations, family vacations, etc., which conflict with the school calendar, must be arranged in advance by completing a Pre-Planned Absence form, or the absence may be considered unexcused. When a student anticipates an absence from school or from a particular class for any reason, it is very important that the student and the parent carefully consider the necessity of the absence, taking into consideration the current number of accumulated absences and their potential impact on loss of credit in the course. If a parent fails to notify the attendance secretary of early check-outs or anticipated absences, then the child’s absence will be considered unexcused.

State Law Regarding Attendance

Colorado Revised Statutes – Article 33, Section 22-33-107

According to Colorado law, a child who has attained the age of six years and is under the age of seventeen years must be enrolled in school. A child within this age range who has four unexcused absences from a public school in any one month or ten unexcused absences from public school during any school year will be considered habitually truant. Students who fall into this category may be turned over to the district’s legal counsel for subsequent consequences. This law is referred to as the Colorado Compulsory School Attendance Law.

Truancy

A student shall be considered truant when absent without a signed or oral parent/guardian excuse, or if the student leaves school or a class without permission of the teacher or administrator in charge. A student of compulsory attendance age shall be determined to be “habitually truant” if he has four unexcused absences from school or class in any one month or ten (10) unexcused absences during any school year (Absences due to suspension or expulsion shall be considered as excused absences regarding truancy in accordance with state law.)

Consequences

A student shall be given a warning on his/her first truancy offense by an administrator or teacher. Habitually truant students may be referred to the appropriate judicial systems to enforce compulsory attendance under state law (Colorado Revised Statutes 22-33-104 and 22-33-107). Calculation of the number of unexcused absences a child has incurred includes all unexcused absences occurring during any calendar year or during any school year. Any student who has been unexcused absent for twenty consecutive days or more in any one school year will be dropped from the enrollment (Colorado Revised Statutes 22-33-101).

System of Support and Accountability

  • Parents, if they have selected to do so in their communication preferences in Parent Portal, will receive an automated phone call if their child has been marked absent from a class.
  • Families will receive a letter via email regarding their child’s attendance if the child has 5 or 10 unexcused absences to any class.
  • When a student has concerning attendance, then an administrator will give the student consequences as described in the behavior matrix while also taking the following steps to help support the student and eliminate barriers:
  • Conference with administrator and student; may include the student’s counselor,
    • An attendance plan created by the administrator and student; may include the student’s counselor,
    • An attendance plan created by the parent/guardian, administrator, and student; may include the student’s counselor,
    • If the above interventions do not help improve the student’s attendance, then the family will be given the option to meet with the district’s Attendance Support Community (ASC) panel OR attend truancy court.
      • If a family does not support their child with improving their attendance after having met with the ASC panel, then truancy court proceedings will begin.

Tardies

An unexcused tardy occurs when a student arrives to a class within the first 15 minutes without authorization from a teacher, parent/guardian, and/or office personnel.

If a student arrives to class after 15 minutes without such authorization, s/he will be marked as “Unexcused”.

Students who have prolonged issues with tardiness will receive detention or in school suspension, as noted in the Fort Morgan High School Behavior Matrix.