Attendance, the Independent Study Policy, & Probation

revised 7/13/07

The Independent Study Policy indicates that attendance of 75% or less in any given assignment period (not to exceed twenty (20) school days) will automatically result in probationary status of the student. A second probation in the current academic year will result in immediate dismissal from the charter school.

If an Attendance Rollsheet is marked with 75% or less positive attendance, the ES will submit an Attendance Discrepancy/Probationary Status Form along with the rollsheet. The ES will check the line next to the statement “This student has been placed on initial probationary status.” The ES will notify the student and the parent that the student is now on probation, and a second probation within the same school year will result in automatic and immediate disenrollment from the school. Submit the signed form with the Attendance Rollsheet for that learning period.

If an Attendance Rollsheet is marked with 75% or less positive attendance due to illness or other extenuating circumstances, and the student should not be placed on probation, write a brief note of explanation at the bottom of the rollsheet. In this case, do not submit an Attendance Discrepancy/Probationary Status form.

If a student has not demonstrated adequate work product to substantiate the full attendance claimed by the parent, the ES will disagree with a parent's claim of attendance. It is the ES’s job to document the student's progress towards the student standards. If a student has not made adequate and appropriate progress towards the standards and has not completed enough work to substantiate a full claim of attendance, it is the ES’s responsibility to assign appropriate attendance credit to that student. However, it is also the ES’s responsibility to understand what constitutes a student's progress towards the student standards. Since all students are at different ability levels and learn in different ways, the ES will need to consider each student individually. A typical high school student will learn differently than a 3rd grade student with A.D.D. Thus, the professional judgment of the ES should be tempered by their knowledge of the various ways in which learning occurs as well as considering if this learning is indeed progress towards the student standards for the individual. Consult your ES Advisor if you encounter this situation and/or for assistance with determining adequate and appropriate progress for an individual student.

If the ES determines that s/he must disagree with the parent's claim of attendance, then the ES completes the Attendance Discrepancy/Probationary Status form, indicating his or her professional judgment regarding the attendance to be awarded. The ES enters her/his claim of attendance in the database, but submits the parent’s claim of attendance on the hard copy of the Attendance Rollsheet, attached to the Attendance Discrepancy/Probationary Status form.

If the ES’s professional judgment results in the awarding of 75% or less positive attendance, the ES checks next to the statement “This student has been placed on initial probationary status.” The ES will notify the student and the parent that the student is now on probation, and a second probation within the same school year will result in automatic and immediate disenrollment from the school. Submit the signed form with the Attendance Rollsheet for that learning period.

If the ES’s professional judgment results in maintaining more than 75% positive attendance, do not check the statement indicating probationary status. Sign the form and submit it with the Attendance Rollsheet for that learning period.

If the student has 75% or less positive attendance for a second given attendance period in the same school year, the ES will complete a second Attendance Discrepancy/Probationary Status form, this time checking the line next to, “This is the 2^nd probation for this student in this academic year.” The ES will then fill in the last date of positive attendance shown on the corresponding rollsheet, on the line after, “Disenroll effective date.” The ES will then print, sign and date his/her name, and inform the student and the parent that the student is immediately disenrolled. Submit the form along with the Attendance Rollsheet for that learning period, and commence with the Procedure for Disenrolling a Student.

In addition to students who do not demonstrate sufficient work product in order to award more than 75% attendance for an attendance period, some ESs will work with students/parents who consistently fail to keep regularly scheduled meetings or are not prepared for the meetings. The individual may be frequently late, may not give notice that they will not show, may give last minute notice of the need to reschedule, and/or they may reschedule several times in one month. Some students/parents will regularly be unprepared for the meetings. The ES should do everything possible to emphasize the importance of the meetings and what constitutes sufficient work to avoid such a situation.

The Independent Study Policy addresses these circumstances. The above-mentioned behavior may indicate that GVCS is not the best placement for this student. The Independent Study Policy calls for an evaluation as soon as there is any concern about whether it is in the best interests of the student to continue with GVCS. Contact your ES Advisor at the first sign of a problem. Also, be sure to document all attempts at contact with the family and any response you receive.

-If the student is an identified Special Education student, Special Ed asks that you carefully document every attempt to contact and work with the family.

For further questions and guidance, ask your ES Advisor.