Attendance, both punctual and regular, is important to a student’s success in school. The following procedures cover student absences:

PARENT RESPONSIBILITIES/EXPECTATIONS
1. Each day or portion thereof that a student is absent, it is the parents/guardians responsibility to call the School Attendance Office at (847-582-7500) and give the reason for absence. The Attendance Office is open from 7:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. Parents are requested to call by 9:00a.m. If a call is not received within 24 hours, the absence will be considered unexcused.

2. Parents who cannot call must write a note explaining the reason for the absence. The note should be written by the parent in its entirety and is to be presented by the student to the Attendance Office prior to the student leaving campus.

3. The school will notify the home regarding student truancy. Once this notification is made, however, it is the responsibility of the student and parents to correct the situation.

4. It is the parent’s responsibility to notify the Attendance Office if a student is arriving late or will be leaving early. If such notice is not received before the student leaves school, the student’s absence is unauthorized and therefore, unexcused. The parental note or phone call must indicate the time the student must leave for an appointment and an approximate return time.

5. A parent cannot excuse a student from one class to stay at school and study for another class.  If a student is in the building he/she must attend all scheduled classes. When a student is in the building any absences from scheduled classes will be considered unexcused.

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES/EXPECTATIONS
1. Students will report to class or study hall on time. If they are to be excused in order to go to another office (such as Counseling or the Health Attendant) the teacher or study hall supervisor will authorize this trip.

2. No student may leave the campus during the school day unless he/she has the permission of the Dean of Students/Attendance Office. All students must sign in and out of the attendance office in order to be excused.

3. Students with notes from parents for appointments outside the building must sign-out at the Attendance Office before leaving. Upon arrival back to school students must sign-in at the Attendance Office.

4. Failure to follow the above attendance procedures regarding signing in and signing out may result in detentions.

5. Seniors may report to school at the start of their first class and may leave at the conclusion of their last class. During the interim, seniors are to remain on campus unless authorized to leave campus for one period. (See “Senior Privileges”)

6. Lake Forest High School is a closed campus. Students are expected to be on campus for the entire school day. (7:50 a.m. - 3:10 p.m.)

7. Students will attend all scheduled classes the school day that they participate in extracurricular activities.

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

WELLNESS
1. A student who finds it necessary to be excused from a Wellness class for a health reason may do so for a TWO DAY period by bringing a note from his/her parents to the Wellness teacher.  Any medical excuse of more than two days duration must be a written note from the family physician stating the reason for and the expected duration of the absence. These physician excuses go to the Health Attendant. The Health Attendant will place all medical waivers into two categories:

A. Type A Medical -- Students with these medical waivers will attend their Wellness class and participate as allowed by physician. For the student who cannot participate with the class in an appropriate activity, that student will report to the Wellness teacher at the beginning of class and will be instructed to complete an appropriate workout or a Wellness instructional packet in the weight room. At the completion of that class period, the student will report to the teacher with a Wellness Resource Center teacher signature verifying the student work completed for the period.

B. Type B Medical – Students with these medicals and physical limitations that would warrant excessive time out of school for rehabilitation, physical therapy, chemotherapy, radiation, etc., will be assigned to the Study Hall for the duration of the semester.

DRIVER EDUCATION
1. If students receive driver education instruction fro a private driving school, they are advised to make arrangements to do during non-school hours. Students will not be excused from school for this purpose except during assigned lunch hours. Absences for private driving lessons during times other than those specified will be considered unexcused and the unexcused absence policy will be implemented. A parent note is required to excuse the student from lunch.

UNEXCUSED ABSENCE PROCEDURES
1. When a student has one (1) unexcused absence in any class, the Deans’ Office will contact the parents or guardian. An attendance progress card will be mailed to the home.

2. When a student has accumulated two (2) unexcused absences in any class, the Dean will assign the student to Saturday Detention (see below). An attendance progress card will also be issued at this time.

3. When a student has accumulated three (3) unexcused absences in any class, the Dean will arrange a conference with the parent, student, teacher, and counselor. Saturday Detention will be assigned and the student’s schedule will be restricted by the Dean for 20 school days.

4. When a student has accumulated four (4) unexcused absences in any one class, the student will be withdrawn with failure, “WF”, from the class.

5. When 50% of the student’s classes have been dropped due to unexcused absences, the
student’s case may be referred to the Board of Education for an expulsion hearing.

SATURDAY DETENTION
The Saturday detention program provides an alternative to suspension and is a further consequence for unexcused absences and other infractions. The program meets on Saturday morning from 7:30 A.M. until 10:30 A.M. Students must remain the entire three hours.  The first time a student fails to attend the Saturday detention program he/she will be assigned an additional Saturday detention and a one day In-School Suspension. The second time a student fails to serve a Saturday detention he/she will be given an Out-of School Suspension for insubordination.

PREARRANGED ABSENCE
The Dean may approve a prearranged absence. Prearranged absence forms are available in the Dean’s office. A student who has been granted a prearranged absence will be excused and granted an opportunity to make-up all work missed at the discretion of the classroom teacher(s), without penalty when he/she has completed the following prior to the absence:

1. Presented written parental request for the absence to the Dean and received approval.
2. Returned a Prearranged Absence Form to the Dean signed by each of his/her teachers.
This form indicates that each teacher has been informed of the absence and has informed the student of the work to be done and a date for the completion of the work has been established.  Students WILL NOT receive credit for work turned in “late” after a prearranged absence. Any tests missed during this absence will be made-up at a time prescribed by the teacher.

APPOINTMENTS (DOCTOR, DENTIST, ETC.)
Parents are requested to hold all such appointments to an absolute minimum during school hours. When appointments must occur during the school day, the parent should call the Attendance Office indicating the doctor’s or dentist’s name, and the time and location of the appointment.  If the parent is unable to call, the Attendance Office will honor only a written request from the parent. NO “DOCTOR’S APPOINTMENT CARD” will be honored unless it has been signed by a parent.
Students arranging such appointments are requested to bring parent notes to the Attendance Office. Passes will be issued by the Attendance Office. Students will be required to sign out and in at the Attendance Office. The pass to leave the campus will be picked up by the student from the Attendance Office at the time of his/her departure. Doctors should be asked to sign these passes and the student will return the pass to the Attendance Office upon his/her return to school.

ILLNESSES IN SCHOOL
Any student who becomes ill during the school day is to report to the Health Attendant’s office.  No student will be permitted to go home because of illness until the Health Attendant has made telephone contact with the parents. The Health Attendant will not diagnose nor prescribe medication for any illness. This is the responsibility of the family physician.

LEAVING CAMPUS
A student may not leave campus at any time during a student’s scheduled school day unless he/she:

(a) receives authorization through the nurse’s office to leave ill and signs out through the
Attendance Office, or
(b) receives a pass from Attendance to leave for an authorized reason verified by a prior parent phone call or note and signs out through the Attendance Office

RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS
A student will be excused for absence caused by his/her observance of a religious holiday.

TARDINESS
All students are expected to be on time for all classes. Teachers will keep records of class
tardiness and inform the Dean (via progress card) after the third occurrence - which will result in an unexcused absence. The individual teacher will handle class tardiness.

(a) Teachers are to inform their students during the first week of classes what constitutes a class tardiness.
(b) Ten minutes of unexcused tardiness will be treated as a class “cut”.
(c) Up to ten minutes, unexcused tardiness will be treated as a class tardy. An accumulation of three such tardies will equal one unexcused absence to be applied to the regular unexcused absence procedure.
(d) The teacher will report chronic cases of student tardiness to the student’s counselor and to the Dean of Students.
(e) Students tardy to first period will report directly to class. If first period tardies become
excessive, a Dean/Teacher/Student meeting will be held before the student may return to
class.

FIELD TRIPS
The opportunity to participate in school-sponsored field trips is considered a privilege. Students who fail to represent the school in a positive way may lose the opportunity to participate in future trips. All school rules apply when on field trips.