ATTENDANCE FOR SUCCESS

Regular class attendance by school age persons at all grade levels is an essential component of the learning process, the development of self-discipline and preparation for post-secondary training, education and employment. It is also a requirement of the New Mexico Attendance for Success Act, NMSA §§22-12A-1, et seq. (2019) ("Law"). Unless otherwise excused by the Law, all school age persons subject to the Law shall attend public school, private school, home school or a state institution until the school-age person is at least eighteen years of age.

Any parent of a school age person subject to the Law is responsible for the in-school or remote school attendance of that person.

The Board is responsible for enforcement of the Law. Therefore, this Board has adopted policies which is intended to help parents and educators carry out their responsibilities to keep students in the school setting, identify students who require absenteeism interventions, appropriately classify students into attendance intervention tiers, remove barriers to attendance, properly document class attendance, calculate and report absences and attendance progress to the New Mexico Department of Education (“Department”) and the public in accordance with the Law, and to enforce the provisions of the Law, including reporting excessively absent students to the Probation Services Office of the judicial district where the student resides. That Probation Services Office will conduct further investigation to determine whether the student should be considered to be a neglected child or a child in a family in need of family services because of excessive absenteeism.

A. Definitions

1.  "absent" means not in attendance for a class or school day for any reason, whether excused or not; provided that "absent" does not apply to participation in interscholastic extracurricular activities;

2.  "attendance improvement plan" means a tiered data-informed system for public schools and school districts to identify students who are chronically or excessively absent and to aid public schools in developing whole-school prevention strategies and targeted interventions. Each of the tiers is defined as follows:

a.  “whole school prevention" means universal, whole-school prevention strategies for all students, including students who have missed less than five percent of classes or school days for any reason;

b.  "individualized prevention" means targeted prevention strategies for individual students who are missing five percent or more but less than ten percent of classes or school days for any reason;

c.  "early intervention" means interventions for students who are missing ten percent or more but less than twenty percent of classes or school days for any reason; and

d.  "intensive support" means interventions for students who are missing twenty percent or more of classes or school days for any reason;

3.  "attendance team" means a group of school-based administrators, teachers, staff, other school personnel and community members who collaborate to implement an attendance improvement plan;

4.  "chronic absence rate" means the percentage of students, in the aggregate and disaggregated by the subgroups required for reporting pursuant to the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, in a public school and a school district who have been enrolled for at least ten days and who have missed ten percent or more of school days since the beginning of the school year;

5.  "chronically absent" or "chronic absenteeism" means that a student has been absent for ten percent or more of classes or school days for any reason, whether excused or not, when enrolled for more than ten days;

6.  "excessively absent" or "excessive absenteeism" means a student who is identified as needing intensive support and has not responded to intervention efforts implemented by the public school;

7.  "excused absence" means absence from a class or school day for a death in the family, medical absence, religious instruction or tribal obligations or any other allowable excuse pursuant to the policies of the local school board;

8.   "interscholastic extracurricular activities" means those activities sponsored by a public school or an organization whose principal purpose is the regulation, direction, administration and supervision of interscholastic extracurricular activities in public schools;

9.  "medical absence" or "medically absent" means that a student is not in attendance for a class or a school day for a parent- or doctor-authorized medical reason or the student is a pregnant or parenting student;

10.  "School-age person" means a person who is at least five years of age prior to 12:01 a.m. on September 1 of the school year and who has not received a high school diploma or its equivalent. A maximum age of twenty-one shall be used for a person who is classified as special education membership as defined in Section 22-8-21 NMSA 1978 or as a resident of a state institution.

11.  "school day" means a portion of the school day that is at least one-half of a student's approved program;

12.  "student who has experienced a disruption in the student's education" means a student who experiences one or more changes in public school or school district enrollment during a single school year as the result of:

a.  homelessness as defined in the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and as determined by the school or District;
b.  adjudication:

i.  as an abused or neglected child as determined by the children, youth and families department pursuant to the Abuse and Neglect Act [Chapter 32A, Article 4 NMSA 1978];
ii.  as part of a family in need of court-ordered services voluntary placement pursuant to the Family Services Act [Chapter 32A, Article 3A NMSA 1978]; or
iii.  as a delinquent if the parent wishes to disclose the adjudication of delinquency; or

c.  placement in a mental health treatment facility or habilitation program for developmental disabilities pursuant to the Children's Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Act [32A-6A-1 to 32A-6A-30 NMSA 1978] or placement in treatment foster care.

13. "unexcused absence" means an absence from a class or school day for which the student does not have an allowable excuse pursuant to the Attendance for Success Act or policies of the local school board.

B. Exemptions from the Law

Any school-aged person shall be excused from attending public school, private school, home school or a state institution if:

1.  The person is specifically exempted by law;

2.  The person has graduated from a high school or received a high school equivalency credential; or

3.  Has withdrawn from school on a hardship waiver.

C. Attendance Record

A record of student class attendance shall be taken by teachers or their adult proxies for every instructional class and school day in a public school or school program. For days in which students participate in remote learning programs, schools must track student participation. Data regarding submission of schoolwork and participation in online activities should be counted as student participation.

D. Absences

A school shall provide a reasonable time for the student to make up the school work missed during the following excused absences.

1. Parent- or doctor-authorized medical reasons.

2.  Documented birth/pregnancy absences as follows:

a.  ten days of medical absences during the school year where a student provides documentation of the birth of the student’s child; and

b.  four days of excused absences for a student who provides appropriate documentation of pregnancy or that the student is the parent of a child under the age of thirteen needing care;

3.  Where an alternative school for, among others, pregnant and parenting students allows for off-site attendance through online education, as long as the students are online with the public school or other appropriate virtual course and complete their class assignments.

4.  Subject to the approval of the school principal, absence for the student to participate in religious instruction for not more than one class period per school day with the written consent of the student’s parent at a time that is not in conflict with the academic program of the school. Neither RRPS nor any RRPS school shall assume responsibility for the religious instruction of any student or permit religious instruction to be conducted on school property.

5.  With the parent’s written consent and subject to the approval of the principal, participation of the student in tribal obligations.

E. Absences and Participation in Interscholastic Extracurricular Activities

1.  A student shall not be absent from school for interscholastic extracurricular activities in excess of fifteen days per semester, and no class shall be missed in excess of fifteen times per semester for interscholastic extracurricular activities.

2.  The secretary may issue a waiver relating to the number of absences for participation in any state or national competition that is not an interscholastic extracurricular activity. The secretary shall develop a procedure for petitioning cumulative provision eligibility cases, similar to other eligibility situations.

3.  Student standards for participation in interscholastic extracurricular activities shall be applied beginning with a student's academic record in ninth grade.

F. Transfer of Student Who Has Experienced a Disruption in the Student's Education

1. When a student who has experienced a disruption in the student’s education transfers to a new public school or district, the receiving school or district shall communicate with the sending public school or district within two days of the student's enrollment. The sending public school or district shall provide the receiving public school or district with any requested records within two days of having received the receiving public school's or district's communication.

2.  A student who has experienced a disruption in the student's education because of transferring to the district as the result of circumstances set forth in this provision shall have:

a.  priority placement in classes that meet state graduation requirements; and

b.  timely placement in elective classes that are comparable to those in which the student was enrolled at the student's previous public school or schools as soon as the District receives verification from the student's records.

3.  For a student who has experienced a disruption in the student's education at any time during the student's high school enrollment, the District shall ensure:

a.  acceptance of the student's state graduation requirements for a diploma of excellence pursuant to the Public School Code;

b.  equal access to participation in sports and other extracurricular activities, career and technical programs or other special programs for which the student qualifies;

c.  timely assistance and advice from counselors to improve the student's college or career readiness; and

d.  that the student receives all special education services to which the student is entitled.

4.  A student who has experienced a disruption in the student's education and has transferred between public schools in different districts or between public schools within the same district shall receive credit for any work completed prior to the transfer, regardless of whether the transfer occurred at the end of a grading period. If such a rule is promulgated by the Department, the District shall comply with such rule to determine how credit shall be awarded for courses that are partially completed, and school districts shall follow the department rule.

G. Unexcused Absences

Students at risk of chronic absenteeism or excessive absenteeism shall be identified early and placed on an attendance improvement plan, and intervention strategies shall be employed, as set forth in Policy 1002.

Notice of a student’s unexcused absences shall be provided to the parent in accordance with the Law.

If an absence is unexcused, any work which should have been submitted during the period of unexcused absence and any tests given during such period shall be treated according to the Law, and the student handbook for the school attended by the student. A student may receive detention or in-school suspension for any unexcused absence. During detention or in-school suspension, the student may have the opportunity to complete the missed work to avoid falling behind in substantive learning experiences, but shall not receive a grade.

H. Distribution of Policy/Acknowledgment of Receipt

On the first day of school, each student shall receive a copy of this policy with an acknowledgment of receipt form to be signed by the parent. The parent shall return the signed acknowledgment to the student's school no later than the fifth day of school. If a returned signed Acknowledgment is not received by the school, the school shall make a reasonable attempt to contact the parent to determine if the parent received the form. The student's failure to deliver this Policy and the Acknowledgment form to his or her parent may subject the student to disciplinary action.

LEGAL REF :
NMSA 1978 Sections 22-12A-1, et seq.

Rio Rancho Public Schools
Adopted: June 11, 2018
Effective Date: July 1, 2018
Revised: August 24, 2020

Previous policy adoption history:
Adopted: April 15, 2009
Revised: June 17, 2009
Revised: September 28, 2009
Revised: July 14, 2014