Attendance Matters - Every Day Counts!
Torrance Unified has set an important goal to increase our attendance rates districtwide during the 2023-2024 school year. Every day of school is an important opportunity for students to learn, connect to their peers and teachers, and ultimately enjoy the learning environment they’re in every day so we appreciate your continued attention and support in this effort!
As a reminder, prompt and regular attendance at school is required by law for all children because regular presence in school has a direct, important impact on a student’s educational success.
Missing just 1-2 days of school a month, (even if they are excused) can lead to lower reading scores, falling behind peers, and a much greater chance of not graduating. In addition, if a student misses an entire day of school, our schools will not receive important state funding for educational materials and programs.
Every absence must be explained by a parent or guardian stating the exact date and reason for the absence. Children who are ill or who may expose other children to illness should not be sent to school.
- Personal illness
- Health quarantine
- Medical and dental appointments (Please try to make these outside of school hours)
- Appearance in court
- Funeral
- Religious holidays, ceremony & instruction
- Naturalization ceremony to become a U.S. citizen
- Spending time with an immediate family member who is an active duty member of the uniformed services and has been called to duty for deployment to a combat zone or a combat support position or is on leave from or has immediately returned from deployment.
For all absences other than illness, please send your child to school for at least part of the day so that your child can get the assignments they will miss, and your school will still receive much-needed state funding.
In order to protect the health of all students and staff and prevent the spread of illness, our Torrance Unified School District Health Services department uses and follows the Los Angeles County of Public Health guidelines.
You can click on the chart below for easy reference to help you determine if you should keep your student home from school.
A student will be marked unexcused for the following reasons unless an exception is made by the Principal:
- Visit to a theme park
- Vacations and travel
- Not being sick, but taking a personal day
- Not having transportation to school
- Any absence in which a parent or guardian does not report the reason
If your child is absent for three or more days, your child is eligible for an Independent Study Contract which keeps them up to date on their class work.
Please advise the child's teacher as soon as possible (email, call, or send a note to the teacher) and the attendance office so they have time to put together a lesson plan for the student. It is your responsibility to report the absence and pick up the plan and any materials online or in person before the absence.
Please do everything you can to ensure your student arrives to school on time so they don’t miss class instruction or disrupt other students.
For TK through 5th grade, if your child is late for school, they will need to go to the office prior to going to their classroom. The office will issue a Tardy Slip for your child to give to the teacher. Being tardy begins immediately after the bell rings.
This site provides information using PDF, visit this link to download the Adobe Acrobat Reader DC software.