If your child is not able to attend school for the day, you must notify the school the day of the absence. You may call the office at (707) 632-5221, or email office@mescaz.org.

The California Department of Education (CDE) has recently implemented new school attendance standards in an effort to address a growing statewide issue of chronic absenteeism:

A student is considered a chronic absentee if he or she is absent 10 percent of the days they were enrolled in a school. Chronic absence is different from truancy, which counts only unexcused absences and indicates a violation of California’s compulsory attendance laws.

Regular attendance is vital to student success in school. Any absence is a missed learning opportunity and may contribute to students falling behind academically. Chronic absenteeism data has shown to be an indicator of future success rates among students.

California Education Code allows excused absences for only the following reasons:

1) Illness                                                                    3) Funeral services for immediate family

  2) Medical, dental or optometric services          4) Quarantine

In an effort to comply with these new standards, Montgomery School will excuse 5 illness absences by parent verification. After 5 illness absences, the student will need a doctor’s note or will receive an unexcused absence. Any other absences not listed above will be marked as unexcused even though the work is made up.

3 unexcused tardies, absences, or combination of these will result in truancy notification letters to be sent to parents.