Perfect Attendance:  We want you at school, and having Perfect Attendance will help you keep up on your assignments, receive the content, and increase your participation. Please make every attempt to make appointments after school or on late start days in the morning. To earn the annual Perfect Attendance award, students cannot be tardy or absent at any point in the school year.

What do I do if I’m absent? When you are absent, have a parent or guardian contact the school and report the reason for the absence to one of the office staff. REMEMBER to come to the front office upon your return to school, so you can drop off a note from your parents.

• For students who are absent a day or two, a phone call each day is sufficient.
• If an absence is not cleared within two weeks, the student will be marked as unexcused.
• On day three of an absence, have your parent or guardian contact your teachers to request work.
• If you will be out five or more days for an emergency, contact our School Secretary, we may be able to offer short term independent study, alternatives, and assistance.
• Our automated phone messenger service contacts families for attendance and to deliver messages.
• The state considers it excessive when a student has 10 or more absences in any given year (for any reason), and letters begin being mailed home after the ninth absence. Attendance counseling, SART meetings and/or home visits may be conducted for students with excessive absences.
• For students that have in excess of 13 absences, doctor notes may be required to excuse the absence.
• Saturday Academy is offered once per month and can be used to recover any prior full day absence.

Chronic Absenteeism: A student is chronically absent from school when absences reach 10% or more of the days enrolled. Chronic absenteeism is monitored by the State of California and is an indicator on the California Dashboard. Research shows that chronic absenteeism is an early warning sign of dropping out of school, therefore we make every attempt to work with parents to keep students from becoming chronically absent.

When am I considered truant? Truancies are recorded when a student does not come to school and that absence is not verified by a note or personal contact, or phone call from the parent or guardian.  Students who return to school without such a note or without communication from the parent or guardian that the student was absent without their permission, will be subject to disciplinary action and may not be allowed to make work up missed in class. Habitual truants and excessive absences will be referred to the School Attendance Review Board. A student is also considered truant if he/she is more than 30 minutes late for school for any reason that’s not excused. Students who “ditch” a class are also considered truant and subject to consequences per the Discipline Matrix. For truancies, letters begin being mailed home after the 3rd truancy.  

What happens when I’m Tardy? When a student is late to school or any class, he/she is tardy. Tardy means you were late. You may have missed the bus, taken too long to get to class, or the family car may have had a flat tire on the way to school. TPJHS realizes that sometimes things happen that cause people to be late.  Students who are late to school must sign  in  at  the  Front  Office.  The only tardies that  will  be excused are  late buses, written verification from a health care provider, deployment activity or written verification of student’s legal obligation. Students miss a great deal of information when late to class as the first few minutes of class establish the daily goal and student expectations. Students with excessive tardies may be subject to discipline per the school’s discipline matrix and/or attendance interventions, such as counseling, SART meetings, and/or home visits.