Attendance

REPORTING AND ABSENCES

ATTENDANCE

Daily school attendance is vital to a student’s academic progress.  Unless you are seriously ill, you need to be in school.  Please schedule medical and dental appointments after school hours whenever possible.  The school does not receive funding if your child is not present (for any reason). Please plan your vacations around school holidays. (Please note that there is one attendance person and you may need to leave a message for a return call.)

ABSENCE NOTES

All absences must be verified by phone or a note from your parent/guardian/doctor.  When returning to school, go to the Attendance Office to get a slip to admit you back to your classes. The Attendance Office message line phone (510) 317-3899 is available 24 hours a day.  Absences not cleared within three days will be considered “cuts” and will be referred to the office. A student who has been absent during the school day is not eligible to participate in student activities that take place after school on the same day, unless cleared by the administration.

HOMEWORK POLICY DURING AN ABSENCE

Teachers are responsible to provide make-up work for excused absences only (as defined by the State of California).  Make-up work for all other types of absences is provided at the discretion of the teacher(s). Teachers will allow one day for make-up work for each day of excused absence.  It is the student’s and parents’ responsibility to request make-up work and visit the teacher(s) websites (example: Google Classroom, Canvas etc).  

Homework can be collected for students who are absent due to illness for more than 3 consecutive days. Please contact teachers directly via email to request homework, if it's not listed on their website (ex. Google Classroom, Canvas etc) and have it delivered to the attendance office. You can find your student's teachers' email on our Staff Directory page of the BMS website.

TRUANCY POLICY

Any student who is absent from school without a valid excuse more than 3 days in a school year is a truant (California EC 48260) if a student is truant the School Attendance Review Team (SART) will meet and further truancy may be referred to the district Child Welfare and Attendance Office for further action.