Attendance

• Call the school the day of the absent after 7:30 AM if the student will be absent. No emails or parent notes please. All absences not cleared within 24 hours will not be excused. Parents’ permission does not necessarily mean the school will be able to excuse the absence.
• You have a deadline of 24 hours to fix any attendance issue. Please log into Parent Self-Serve to see your student’s daily attendance.

• Excessive days or more than 3 consecutive days of illness require a doctor’s note to be excused.
• Limited only to 4 absences per class per semester. If a student misses more than 4 days the student will be placed on a doctor note status moving forward until the end of the semester.
• Health care facility whenever a student is admitted to a health care facility documentation should be provide by the facility. Contact the attendance office for more information.

• Student illness or injury with a phone call up to 4 times and after 4 times with doctors note only.
• Funerals- Bowie will give you 3 days, 2 for travel and one for the funeral if it’s out of town. **this can be modified with the Principal’s approval as long as it is within the 90% requirement.
• Doctor check-ups (non- sick appointments) eye/dental/allergies, we recommend students to take ½ day only. Students can be picked up after 10:15 AM or dropped off after the appointment any time before the end of the school day with a doctor note in hand, and the student will be considered present for the day. And no ABS hours will need to be recovered. Every student that leaves early must be signed out by parent/guardian. If a student misses the bus for another campus, they must report to the attendance office and sign in.
• Health care facility whenever a student is admitted to a health care facility please contact the attendance office.

• Religious holidays are only excused based off the TEA approved list. Please provide advance notice.
• College visits please provide a letter head from the campus you are attending. This is a signed document from the university with a name and date you attended. It can be obtained from their admissions office or the person giving a campus tour.
• Military visits are only excused with a recruitment letter or if you are taking your Hazmat test (also a letter head is needed). Or mother/father are being deployed. No other military visits will be excused.
• DMV visits are excused up to two days with documentation, this includes one day for permit and one day for a driver’s license. Please provide permit or license to receive N code.

• Vacations, business trips or church retreats are not recognized by the state as acceptable reasons for students being out of school and will be treated as unexcused. No makeup work will be given to students who have an unexcused absence.
• Parents failing to contact the school within 24 hours will result in a unexcused absent.
• Being truant. This includes skipping, roaming hallways or being more then 20 mins late to a class.
• Oversleeping. Any student who arrives tardy after 9:30 AM will be considered absent for the day, unless they have a doctor’s note.
• Non-related sporting events is not recognized by the district as necessary time off from school all non-school sporting activities will not be excused.
• Any reason for which extenuating circumstances are not found by the campus administration.

Students must have parent and school permission before leaving the campus except at the end of their regular school day. A phone request for dismissal should be made in the Main office. Doctor, dental and other appointments for students are to be scheduled so the student is in attendance during 2/8 periods. Any student leaving during school hours must have permission from the school and must sign out. Students must sign in when they return. Failure to sign in and out will result in disciplinary consequences, if a student does not sign out this is considered an unexcused absent.

Students with excessive absences may not receive the Verification of Enrollment and Attendance (VOE) form. This form is required by the Department of Public Safety to receive a driver’s license. VOE forms may be requested from the attendance office and must be picked up 48 hours after the request. Click here for more information regarding VOEs.

After 10 unexcused absences full days or period absences for the year, the student will become truant. When this happens, the District Attendance Officer may file a complaint in court against the parent or child.

Fines range from $100 to $500 per day that student remains truant.

Other results of truancy are:

• Loss of VOE form required for a driver’s education permit
• Suspension of a child’s driver permit
• Warrant for the arrest of a parent/ or child may be issued.