Compulsory Attendance Law
Children between the ages of five and seventeen years are under the Pennsylvania Compulsory Attendance Law. For them, regular attendance is required unless they are excused by means of an employment certificate or are absent for valid reasons. State law lists an absence as excused for the following reasons:

1. Illness

2. Death in family

3. Impassable roads

4. Exceptionally urgent reasons as approved by the principal

WASD Attendance Policy #204

You are responsible for attending school if the bus does not arrive or if you miss the bus. Written documentation of all absences is expected within 3 school days of absence.

Truancy Policy
Truancy, the illegal or unexcused absence from school, violates the attendance policies of the Waynesboro Area School District. Students who do not return an excuse within 3 days of their absence will receive an illegal absence. If convicted of truancy, a parent, guardian, or person acting as the parent of a child can be subject to any or all of the following sentences.

• Payment of a fine not exceeding $300, plus additional court costs

• Required community service for a period of up to (6) months

• Completion of a mandatory parenting education program

Failing to pay truancy fines or complete assigned community service or parenting education programs can result in a jail sentence for the parent or guardian for a period not to exceed days (3) days. Under the law, school district attendance officers and state and municipal police officers are given full police power and may arrest or apprehend any child who fails to attend school in compliance with the provisions of Act 29.

In the case of students age 13 and older, if parents can show that they took every reasonable step to insure their child’s attendance at school, the student can be sentenced to pay a fine of up to $750 for each offense or assigned to an alternative program. Students over age 13 who are cited and convicted of truancy can also lose their driver’s license for ninety (90) days on the first offense and six (6) months for the second and further offenses.

Absence from School
Parents who wish to obtain the release for their children from school for family trips, family business or other family activities, must request PRIOR (10 days) permission from the principal. The request must be made in writing using the Educational Trip Form, which is available in the office and returned for the principal’s approval. Parents must define the nature of the activity, its duration and its purpose. According to School Board policy, only those activities which are emergencies or which are educational in nature will be excused.

• Absences of more than nine (9) days are considered to be excessive. A letter will be sent to parents when more than nine days are missed by any student.

• Students who arrive at school after 8:51 a.m. and leave before 1:15 p.m. will be given a half-day absence. If a student leaves before 8:51 a.m. or comes to school after 1:30 p.m. he/she will be given a full day’s absence.

• Students who miss ten days of school may be required to submit a medical excuse for further absences. When a medical excuse is required for each absence, each day of absence must be dated on the note by the doctor and the note presented on the day the student returns to school.

• A student must bring a signed excuse from a parent or legal guardian, stating the date or dates of the absences and the reason for the absence. Excuses signed by anyone other than the parent or guardian will not be accepted.

• A student must return a proper excuse signed by a parent or guardian within three (3) school days following any absence to return.

• Even though a parent may have notified the school concerning an absence, an excuse must still be turned in. If the excuse is not submitted to the attendance secretary within 3 days, the absence becomes an illegal absence.

• Handing in signed excuses to the attendance office should be done before and after school, but excuses can be turned in throughout the day between class times. Students must sign in when turning in an excuse.

• When an attendance notice (1 st or 2 nd offense) is sent out, absence notes will not change the notice. It is then too late.

• After the third day of illegal absence for a given year, parents are notified in writing.

• If an illegal absence occurs again during the remainder of the year, a citation may be issued.

In the event your absence begins to show evidence of interfering with your scholastic work, you will be required to present a doctor’s excuse for each day of absence.

Tardiness
Students who arrive late (after 7:38AM) to school MUST sign in and submit an excuse to the attendance secretary. They will be given a late admit slip. If tardiness persists, administrative discretion will apply to the consequences such as:

3 tardies to school = Reprimand
6 tardies to school = Reprimand
9 tardies to school = 30 minute detention
12 tardies to school = 60 minute detention

*Every 3 tardies accumulated after 12 will result in additional 60 minute detentions.

If there are an exceptional number of tardies, even with a parent sign-in or excuse, we reserve the right, at our discretion, to begin coding tardies as illegal and subject to the above stated consequences. Weekly reports will be run to track tardies and attendance during the year.

Dismissal During a School Day
Should you have a medical or dental appointment which occurs during the school day, or any other reason for an early dismissal, be certain to have a note stating time and reason for early dismissal.

Early dismissal notes should be submitted to the office the morning of the desired dismissal. The parent/guardian or adult picking you up must come to the school office to sign the appropriate book for your release. No student may leave unless accompanied by a parent/guardian or another adult identified in the note previously provided by the parent/guardian.

Parents/guardians will also be required to provide their driver’s license which will be scanned through the Waynesboro Area School District’s School Gate Guardian System. Students will not be released to any adult or emergency contact without notification, in writing or verbally, to the office.