K-8 Attendance Policy:

Absence Policy:

Please call the school office to report all absences by 9:00a.m. daily (619-232-3794).  Be sure to include your child’s name, grade, reason for absence and whether or not you plan to pick up homework in advance.  Homework can be picked up at 3:15pm otherwise it will be available the next day.  This information should be communicated each day of your student’s absence (unless the duration is known in advance). Report contagious diseases immediately so that we can inform other families.  Please leave a message on the answering machine if you are calling before or after regular school office hours.  A doctor’s note may be required for an extended absence of more than 5 days.

Parents should notify the school office at least 2 weeks in advance of a planned absence of more than 3 days.  Parents will be required to fill out Student Study Contract, and teachers will complete a portion of the form that outlines the student’s assigned work.  All assignments and the Student Study Contract are due back to the student’s teacher in a timely manner after the absence. We discourage these sorts of absences.  Although schoolwork can be provided, these assignments are never able to replace valuable learning experiences students receive in their classroom. We encourage families to use vacations, holidays, and summer breaks, rather than school days, for trips and special family visits.

All absences and tardies (excused and unexcused) are recorded on the student’s record.  Absences and tardies will be excused under the following conditions:

1. Student illness/Parent illness
2. Funerals
3. Court appearances
4. Personal emergencies
5. Religious celebrations
6. Of-campus academic needs
7. Medical and dental appointments (If at all possible schedule appointments during non-school hours.)

Education Code 482222 that states, “Pupil attendance shall be kept by private school authorities in a register and a record of attendance shall indicate clearly every absence of the pupil from school from half day or more during each day that school maintained during the school year.”  School administrator will notify parents of students with a significant number of absence (5).  Excessive unexcused absences (10 or more) will have an adverse effect on a student’s grades, may affect promotion, and will be reported to the School Attendance Review Board through the local school district.

Tardy Policy:

Students should arrive on time each day.  Please do your part to make the start of school successful. Late students miss morning openings and valuable instruction, disturb their classmates, and receive negative messages from adults concerning the importance of school.  It is essential for all students to be in their classes and ready to learn at the start of the school day.

Elementary (K-5th grade)
All classroom doors will be closed at 8:30, after which students and their parents must go to the Geneva Room.  Parents will sign a late sheet, provided by the assistant in the Geneva Room and students will wait there until their classroom teacher calls them to class.  Teachers will call late students to class at a break in their morning schedule that allows for the least disruption for the other students in the classroom. 

If a student has a medical appointment or other excused tardy (see list above under absence policy) that causes them to arrive late to school, student and parent should check in the Geneva Room to pick up an “excused tardy slip.” 

Middle School (6th – 8th grades)
Middle school begins at 8:20 each day.  Students who arrive late must pick up a tardy slip from the office regardless of the reason for the tardy.  Any student with 3 or more unexcused tardies in a class will receive lunch detention. Please note that students are responsible for getting themselves to and from class, lunch, breaks, etc.  Tardies will be noted at the beginning of every class.

If a student has a medical appointment or other excused tardy (see list above under absence policy) that causes them to arrive late to school, student should check in with the office to obtain an excused tardy slip.

All Grades
Traffic congestion is a regular part of driving in San Diego.  Please consider this and allow enough time so your child is at their classroom before 8:30am.  At rare times there are huge traffic delays due to weather or major accidents.  When these extreme incidents occur, a note will be posted at the entrance to the school indicating that tardies will be excused and all students should proceed directly to their classroom.

In all of these circumstances, students must still be signed in on their classroom clipboard regardless of whether or not they will be spending time in the Geneva Room.

Parents of students receiving five (5) late slips within an academic quarter will be contacted by the school.  Parents/students who have a chronic problem with tardiness will conference with the teacher and/or the principal and may be reported to the School Attendance Review Board through the local school district

Early Dismissal Policy:

Please do not request permission to remove the student from class for frivolous reasons (i.e. strictly for your convenience).  Removing a student from the classroom effects your child, but is also disruptive to the entire class and interferes with the teacher’s ability to deliver all of the planned instruction for the day.

In order to maintain a productive, focused, and safe learning environment, it is the policy of CTCS that parents must obtain an Early Dismissal Slip from the school office to be presented to the student’s teacher upon taking their child from school before the end of the school day.  A student who is picked up an hour or more before the end of the day will be counted as ½ day absent (K-8th grade).

Under no circumstance, will parents be permitted to pick up their child early from school without first completing this form.   Parents who arrive early to pick up their child from school without a stated purpose will be asked to wait for their child outside the classroom until school is dismissed.