Parents » Student Attendance

Student Attendance

ATTENDANCE 


The student’s daily attendance is critical to support academic success. Some absences are unavoidable and may have resulted due to safety procedures put in place by public health. We thank parents/legal guardians for their support as Los Angeles Unified continues to prioritize health and safety. Students who maintain good attendance are much more likely to be successful, both academically and socially. Every student is expected to attend school for the length of the school day on a daily basis unless there is a valid justification for the absence (EC Section 48200). Schools are required to maintain up-to-date attendance records throughout the school year.


Additional information and resources are available on the Student Health and Human Services, Pupil Services website at: https://achieve.lausd.net/pupilservices or by phone at (213) 241-3840.


California Compulsory Full-Time Education Law Each person between the ages of 6 and 18 years not otherwise exempted must attend public school full-time (EC 48200). Students shall attend the public school in the school district of residence of their parent/ legal guardian, educational rights holder, or caregiver. In addition, minors under the age of 18 are prohibited from being present in a public place during school hours without a valid excuse (Los Angeles County Code Section 13.57.010). More information is available at: LACC Section 13.57.010.


Absence Verification It is the parent’s/legal guardian’s responsibility to provide documentation to verify the reason(s) for absence within 10 school days after the student returns to school in order to prevent absences from being recorded as uncleared/unexcused and counting towards truancy. Absences include coming to school late, leaving early, and missing class periods. Upon learning from a parent/legal guardian the reason(s) for a student’s absence, the following staff may verify the validity of an absence due to illness or quarantine (CA Code of Regulations, Title 5, Section 421):

gulations, Title 5, Section 421): 

  1. A school or public health nurse; 
  2. An attendance supervisor (e.g., Pupil Services and Attendance (PSA) Counselor); 
  3. A physician; 
  4. A principal; 
  5. A teacher; 
  6. Any other qualified employee of a school district assigned to make such verification.

School site staff authorized to verify absence excuses of any kind may, when presented facts that call into question the authenticity of the excuse, request additional information in support of the absence excuse, and/or may refuse to excuse the absence (CA Code of Regulations, Title 5, Section 306). 


For any student with a history of excessive parent/guardian excused absences, schools may revoke a parent/guardian’s privilege to excuse absences.

Absences – Excused

A student shall be excused from school when the absence is due to: 

  1. Illness or injury of student; 
  2. Quarantine; 
  3. Medical, dental, optometric, or chiropractic services; 
  4. Mental or behavioral health (absence for the benefit of the student’s mental health or behavioral health); 
  5. Attending the funeral of an immediate family member e.g., mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, brother, sister, or any relative living in the immediate household of the student [one (1) day within the state, three (3) days outside the state]; 
  6. Jury duty; 
  7. Illness or medical treatment of a child of whom the student is the custodial parent (no doctor’s note required for illness of child). (EC Section 48205); 
  8. Spending time with a family member called to duty for, on leave from, or just returned from active military duty in combat zone. (immediate family member; maximum three (3) days); 
  9. Medical exclusion or exemption; 
  10. Serving as a member of a precinct board for an election; 
  11. Attending the student’s naturalization ceremony; 
  12. Revoked suspension through appeals procedure.

Justifiable Personal Reasons refer to situations where the student’s absence has been requested in writing by the parent/legal guardian and approved by the principal or designee. Absences that fall into this category include but are not limited to:

  1. Appearance in court; 
  2. Attendance at a funeral service (extended days); 
  3. Attendance at an educational conference offered by a non-profit organization (legislative/judicial); 
  4. Attendance at an employment conference; 
  5. Attendance at a religious retreat (shall not exceed four (4) hours per semester); 
  6. Entertainment industry work with valid work permit [no more than five (5) consecutive days or a maximum of five (5) absences per school year]; 
  7. Observance of religious or cultural holiday, ceremony, or secular historical remembrance; 
  8. Religious instruction (attend a minimum school day; occurs no more than four (4) days per school month); 
  9. Take Your Child(ren) to Work Day.

Upon receiving appropriate verification that an absence occurred due to one (1) of the reasons listed above, the school will consider the absence to be excused.


A student who is absent from school for an excused reason shall be allowed to complete all assignments and tests missed during the absence that can reasonably be provided and, upon satisfactory completion, shall be given full credit. The teacher of any class from which a student is absent shall determine which tests and assignments shall be reasonably equivalent to the tests and assignments that the student missed during the absence.

Absences – Unexcused 

Absences for which no explanation is provided or absences for reasons other than those listed as EXCUSED ABSENCES (above) may be considered unexcused. Los Angeles Unified is required by law to seek an explanation from the parent/legal guardian (a written note or verbal justification) regarding all absences within 10 days. Students with unexcused absences may be classified as truant (see Truancy and School Attendance Review Board (SARB) sections below).


Examples of UNEXCUSED absences include: 

  1. Running errands for family; 
  2. Babysitting; 
  3. Vacation or trips; 
  4. Weather conditions; 
  5. Transportation problems.

Truancy 

Any student subject to compulsory full-time education or to compulsory continuation education who is absent from school and/or tardy or absent more than 30 minutes on three (3) occasions in one (1) school year without valid excuse, or any combination thereof, is considered to be a truant under the law [EC Section 48260 (a)]. Upon a student’s initial classification as a truant, the school district shall notify the student’s parent/legal guardian of the following: 

  1. The student is truant; 
  2. That parent/legal guardian is obligated to compel the attendance of the student at school; 
  3. That parent/legal guardian who fails to meet these obligations may be guilty of an infraction and subject to prosecution; 
  4. That alternative educational programs are available in Los Angeles Unified; 
  5. That parent/legal guardian has the right to meet with appropriate school personnel to discuss solutions to the student’s truancy 
  6. That the student may be subject to prosecution; 
  7. That it is recommended that the parent/legal guardian accompany the student to school and attend classes with the student for one (1) day (EC Section 48260.5).
Notification of Truancy A truancy notification letter will be mailed to parents/legal guardians of students between the ages of 6 and 18 years when students accumulate three (3) or more unexcused absences, early leaves and/or tardies of 30 minutes or more in the school year. If a valid excuse has not been provided within 10 instructional days of an absence, it will remain uncleared and will be counted toward truancy classification. Unexcused or uncleared absences accumulated at any Los Angeles Unified school within the same school year count towards the classification of truancy. Parents/legal guardians who receive a truancy notification may contact the school (the school from which the letter was generated) if they believe that they have received a notification of truancy in error. School site personnel must enter all corrections to attendance records no later than June 30th of the respective school year.