Absence/Tardiness guidelines for 2024-25

Colonial School District families are reminded to familiarize themselves with the attendance policies as we head into a new school year. Please read on for information about how student tardiness and absences are recorded.

Unexcused late minutes will accumulate and count toward total absences. Elementary school students with 390 minutes of unexcused tardiness and middle/high school students with 405 minutes of unexcused tardiness will be recorded as having one unlawful absence. If an elementary school student has 780 minutes they would be recorded as having two unlawful absence days, and so on. Absences that accumulate from tardy minutes will be included in the total number of unlawful absences for the year. Students will be subject to the district's truancy notification process beginning with the third unlawful absence.

If a student is late to school, the attendance office must receive a notification from the parent/guardian. To submit a Tardy/Lateness form, please click here. The acceptable reasons for an excused lateness to school are the same as for excused absences. A maximum of 10 excused lateness occurrences are permitted in one school year.

With regard to full-day absences, parents/guardians must notify the office of their child's absence within three days. If a notification is not received within three days, the absence will be recorded as unlawful or unexcused. To access absence notification forms, please use the link above, click on the button for "Attendance," and select your child's school and the corresponding form.

Information about the tardiness and attendance can be found in our family handbooks. To access family handbooks, please visit your child's school webpage, and select "Links and Resources" from the top navigation menu, and then select "Handbook."