Secondary Period by Period Attendance Scenarios and Clarification

Period by Period Attendance Scenarios and Clarification:

The question has been raised as to how teachers should properly document student attendance for students who are present in the building but not present in class.  Please find below a couple of scenarios that emulate possible situations and the steps needed for proper documentation.

Scenario A:  The student is absent from class for the entire period.  This student might be with a school counselor, administrator, or other authorized adult in a supervised activity/meeting.  

Process:  The teacher would mark the student absent.  This student did not report to class, and the teacher would have no knowledge of the student being present.  The authorized adult who was supervising the student would provide the attendance secretary with the documentation for the student that was under their supervision.  This documentation should include the student name, date, start time, end time and reason for student missing class.  The attendance secretary  would then code this student as "CLS" Class Excused.  The documentation would then be uploaded in the student's attendance repository.

Scenario B:  The student is absent from class initially but is escorted to or provided a pass to class by an authorized individual.  This student might have been with a school counselor, administrator, teacher or other authorized adult in a supervised activity/meeting.  

Process:  The teacher would mark the student absent initially but when the student reported to class with an escort or pass from an authorized individual the teacher would change the attendance mark to present.  It is recommended that the classroom teacher wait until the last 15 minutes of class to enter attendance in order to minimize the number of times attendance must be marked.  

If the teacher wants to document why they changed a student’s attendance they may document it in the PLP. 

Scenario C:  The student is present in class initially but leaves class with or at the request of an authorized individual.  This student might be with a school counselor, administrator, or other authorized adult in a supervised activity/meeting.  

Process:  The teacher would mark the student present.  This student attended class and left to attend an authorized activity or meeting with an authorized individual. 

If the teacher wants to document why they changed a student’s attendance they may document it in the PLP. 

Scenario D:  The student reports tardy to class and does not have a pass from an authorized individual. 

Process:  The teacher would mark the student Tardy.  While this student may have been in the building, there is no documentation that supports the student participating in an authorized activity, or being in the supervision of an authorized adult.  This student would be coded as "TTC" Tardy to Class when the attendance is automatically rolled over-night.  Should it be found that the student was participating in a authorized activity or under the supervision of an authorized adult, proper documentation would need to be provided to the attendance secretary and then the attendance secretary could re-code the student as "CLS" Class Excused.