ASA follows all Minnesota laws and statutes concerning consistent attendance.
Consistent attendance is part of Minnesota’s accountability system under the Every Student Succeeds Act. Following the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) guidelines, a student will be considered to be consistently attending school if they attend more than 90 percent of school days. Consistent attendance is the opposite of chronic absenteeism, which is defined as missing at least 10 percent of school days (the equivalent of missing one day out of every two traditional school weeks).
ASA’s goal is a student attendance of 95%. ASA supports attendance as an important predictor of academic success. Students who attend school consistently are more likely to have higher achievement, stronger social connections, graduate high school and succeed in their careers, college experience, or both after high school.
Parents with students with chronic absenteeism will be notified in writing and asked to work with both the school and their student to improve attendance. ASA may require a doctor note in order to excuse chronic absenteeism.
Absenteeism, meeting the state standard of truancy, will be reported to the county.
Unexcused Absences
An unexcused absence is one recorded and counted on a student’s record. Teachers will determine the nature of make-up work required due to the absence.
Unexcused absences are one of the following:
- Any absence for which proper procedures are not followed
- Truancy from class or school
- Baby-sitting
- Oversleeping or missing the bus
- Vacation days (Once the maximum of five (5) days excused has been met)
- Transportation problems
Excused Absences
- Acceptable reasons for absence include:
- Sickness of student
- Medical & Dental Appointments
- Religious holidays
- Funerals of family members and friends
- Vacation (up to five (5) days per school year
- Severe weather conditions
Early Release
Contact the front desk, either in writing, by phone or in person to have your student released early. Early release must meet excused absence requirements. If a note is sent in, the front desk may call to verify. If a person other than a parent/guardian is picking up your student, the school will need written permission. An ID is required to pick up a student.
Attendance Line
All absences should be phoned in by 10 am by calling 763.444.0342 for elementary students, and 763.444.0039 for middle schoolers. Please provide the following information when calling in an absence:
- Name of child
- Date and reason for absence
- Grade or teacher’s name
- Telephone number where you can be reached for verification if needed.