Office Assistant
Attendance
Prompt and regular attendance at school is required by law for all children. In addition, regular presence in school has a direct, important impact your student’s educational success.
Missing just 1-2 days of school a month, (even if it is 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, your school will not receive important state funding for educational materials and programs.
Every absence must be explained by the 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.
Please refer to information at the top of the page for reporting.
- 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 at school and prevent the spread of illness, our Torrance Unified School District Health Services department had provided this chart to help you decide if your student should be kept at home.
Please do not send your child to school if they have any of the following symptoms:
Guidelines for Students with Symptoms of Illness
SYMPTOM |
Keep your child at home if: |
May return to school when: |
---|---|---|
Fever |
Student currently has a fever (a temperature > 100.4 degrees F) or has had a fever in the last 24 hours. |
They have been fever - free for 24 hours without taking fever-reducing medication such as Tylenol or Advil. |
Runny Nose |
Excessive drainage or thick, dark mucous. |
Symptoms resolved or released by physician. |
Cough |
Excessive Persistent cough, coughing up phlegm, cough sounds like a bark or is accompanied by a sore throat or wheezing. |
Symptoms resolved or released by physician (unless associated with a know health condition, i.e. asthma). |
Sore Throat |
Sore throat with tender swollen glands or fever. |
Symptoms resolved or released by physician. If strep throat, 24 hours after antibiotic has been started. |
Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea |
Two or more episodes of vomiting or diarrhea, or has had one in the past 24 hours and feels tired or ill. |
Symptom free for 24 hours. |
Rash |
If the rash blisters, develpos pus, or is uncomforatble, accompanied by fever, behavioral change, or suspicious for communicable disease chicken pox, measles). |
When released by physician. |
Eyes with redness, itching, pain, swelling or discharge |
Pink or red conjunctiva (whites of the eyes) with whiteor yellow eye mucous drainge (LAUSD). |
Symptoms resolved or release by physician. After treatment has begun if diagnosis is bacterial conjunctivitis. |
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.
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 policy applies to all students in Transitional Kindergarten through 5th Grade.