Attendance Policy
Utah International students must attend school every day unless they are ill. Parents are strongly urged to schedule appointments outside of school hours and plan family vacations to coincide with school breaks. If a student has an appointment during school hours, he or she should attend school before or after the appointment.
Excused Absences
If a student is ill or otherwise unable to attend school, a parent should call the school by 9 AM. If we do not see a student or receive a phone call by 9 AM, we will call the first contact number and leave a message. The student’s absence is unexcused until and unless we receive a phone call or note from the parent or guardian providing a valid excuse for the absence. Each teacher will have policies for accepting late work from students with an excused absence.
Checking In and Out
Students must check in at the office if they arrive at school more than 5 minutes late. Late check-ins count as unexcused tardies or absences unless accompanied by a valid note or phone call from a parent or guardian. In order to leave school before 2:56 PM, students must check out at the office. Students are not allowed to leave the building before 2:56 without a note, phone call, or in-person sign-out from a parent or guardian.
Unexcused Absences
A student’s absence is unexcused if he or she misses a class without the knowledge or permission of staff or parents. Parents will be notified and other consequences (usually detention) will be assigned. Students will not get grade credit for work completed or collected during the student’s unexcused absence.
Students who refuse to attend class (with or without parent knowledge), or who leave the building during the school day without checking out properly are truant. Parents will be notified, detention or other consequences will be assigned, and the student will not get grade credit for work completed or collected while he or she was truant.
Excessive Absences and Habitual Truancy
Our learning model is based on full, in-person participation by every learner. Most schoolwork is intended to be completed with other students, under the teacher’s guidance. Many assignments cannot be meaningfully made up. This means that missing more than three classes in a quarter, for any reason, may damage the student’s grade. Tardies and early checkouts, even if excused, may also damage a student’s grade. Teachers will set their own policies for attendance and participation.
Students with an attendance rate less than 80% in any quarter, for any reason, will receive a letter notifying their parents that they are on the no-excuse list for the following quarter. This means that NO absence will be excused. The student will receive consequences and be unable to receive points for missed work for ANY absence during the no-excuse quarter. Excessive absences in 4th quarter will place the student on the no-excuse list for first quarter of the following year. Students on the no-excuse list must surrender their cell phone at the office each morning until they establish a good attendance record.
By state law, any student who misses school for 10 consecutive days without a valid excuse will be removed from the school’s Student Information System and is no longer considered a student of Utah International. His or her bus pass will be deactivated. A parent or guardian will need to accompany this student to school in order to re-enroll him or her, with a commitment to good attendance in the future, and the student will be placed on the no-excuse list for at least one quarter.