Central Bucks High School West

Student Attendance Procedures:

Reporting Absences and Late Arrivals/Early Departures

• Parents and guardians will be able to submit absence requests via the Parent Portal. Parents can request a full day absence, early dismissal, or late arrival. 

• Absence requests will be reviewed by school attendance staff and approved or denied. Students will not be dismissed from school without proper documentation in the attendance portal.
• Requests made using the parent portal will also serve as the excuse for the absence. Parents will not be required to submit an excuse either electronic or written. 
• Parents and guardians may also still call the school to report an absence, but emails will no longer be accepted.  

In addition, when a student is absent from school, but the school did not receive communication from the parent or guardian, the following communication will be sent:  

• A text message will be sent mid-morning notifying the parent or guardian of the absence.

• An email will also be sent at the end of the school day reminding the parent or guardian that the student was marked absent. 

Students may not attend and/or participate in extracurricular school activities on days on which they are absent, whether excused or unexcused, or attend school for less than half of the academic day.

College Visits, Vacations/Family Trips, Field Trips, & Other Planned Absences

• At least two weeks before a planned absence, students should pick up a “Request for Approved Absence” form in the Attendance Office. 

• Parent/guardian should fill out the form. 
• Student must have each teacher initial the bottom of the form to ensure that plans are made for student to keep current on class assignments while out of school. 
• Two weeks before planned absence, student must submit completed form to Attendance Office to verify that no more than the allotted days are taken: Juniors and seniors are allotted 3 college visit days per year; all students are allotted 5 vacation/family trip days per year. 
• No trip will be approved during the first or last five (5) days of a semester, during published state standardized testing dates, or final examination testing times. 
• All absences, regardless of reason, are included in the cumulative 10 afforded by Pennsylvania Code.

Missed Work/Assessments 

• Students are responsible for making up all work/assessments missed as a result of excused absences. If a student will be out for an extended amount of time, parent/guardian should call the student’s school counselor and teachers in advance. 
• A student is allowed the same number of days to make-up work as the number of days s/he missed for excused absences and lateness. Students are obligated to discuss and arrange plans for make-up work within that time. Any work not made up in that time period may have academic consequences. 
• If a student is absent on the day of an assessment, they should be prepared to complete the assessment upon their return to school.  It is strongly suggested that students contact their teachers if they are going to be out of school for an absence and to discuss dates/times for completion of their assessment. 

Appointments

Parents are students are encouraged to schedule appointments outside of the school day. If it is not possible to do so, parents and students are required to follow these procedures:

• Visit the Parent Portal and submit the dismissal note or send a note with the student’s name (printed clearly), date, reason, phone number, and departure time to the Attendance Office.
• The dismissal note must be logged into the student’s attendance portal before permission will be given to leave.
• The student must exit via the Front, Main, or Rear Parking Lot Entrance checking-in with the attendance office.

Thank you for helping us to maintain accurate attendance records. For additional information about school attendance please see  School Board Policy 204.