When you are going to be absent from school, you must have a parent only (not you) submit an Absence Notification Form (found on the Parent Resources page of the Veritas main website). It is your responsibility to email each of your teachers that you will be absent from their class that day and to ask questions about missed assignments, tests, notes, etc. Please do not have your parent email your teachers for you unless you are very sick.
It is not necessary to submit an Absence Notification Form if you are missing school for a Veritas school-related activity. (class trip, sports, fine arts competition) All other absences should be communicated via the Absence Notification Form.
ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS
Types of Absences shown in the Student Attendance:
1. School-related absence (A-SR) - An absence necessitated by an approved school activity. This includes field trips, class trips, official Veritas Academy sports and fine arts, approved club events, and up to two absences per year in the student’s 11th and 12th grade years, for college visits. All work related to these absences can be made up without penalty in accordance with the late work policies.The absence will not count toward the absence threshold.
2. Excused absence (A-EX) - An absence due to illness, medical appointment, or approved vacation. The parent or student must contact the school about these absences and, in some instances, provide documentation, in order to have them marked excused. All work related to these absences can be made up without penalty in accordance with the late work policies. The absence will count toward the absence threshold.
3. Unexcused absence (A) - Any other absence. The student forfeits the ability to make up missed work. The absence will count toward the absence threshold.
Absence Threshold
In the Schools of Logic and Rhetoric, students may be absent 8 classes per year in a 3-day per week course, 6 classes per year in a 2-day per week course, and 4 classes per year in a 1-day per week course. Any additional absences will be viewed as excessive and the student’s final grade will be reduced. See definitions above for types of absences to determine which absences will count toward this threshold and which will not.
The first absence beyond the threshold will result in the student’s final grade being reduced by 3 points. In a 3-day per week course, each additional 4 days of absences will result in a further reduction of 3 points to the final grade. In 2-day per week courses and 1-day per week courses, the further reduction occurs at an additional 3 days and 2 days respectively.
Please know that in these days of Covid-related absences, we are offering grace for days missed due to Covid illnesses or family quarantine. This does require that students maintain regular attendance and stay current on school work the rest of the year, saving absence days for illness or emergencies.
Notification of Absences
The parent and/or student should contact their teacher and the registrar prior to any absence explaining the reason for the absence and should check RenWeb for class work and communicate with the teacher, in accordance with the late work policies, a plan for making up what was missed.
Parents in the schools of Logic and Rhetoric will be notified via automatic e-mail each day if their student was absent in any class that day.
Skipping Class
If it is determined that a student has skipped class, the work missed for the class may not be made up and the student will be assigned service hours equal to 2x the class time missed. Skipping class includes decisions to miss class in order to work on another class and any unexcused absence on the day of a scheduled test or presentation.
Vacations and Trips
Vacations should be planned during school breaks. Required assignments need to be turned in prior to leaving on the trip, or with special permission from the teacher, no later than the next school day after returning from the trip. Any missed tests need to be made up, and the student is responsible for making the arrangements for when and how the make-up will take place. Projects and compositions due during a scheduled trip need to be turned in prior to the trip. If a student misses a group presentation due to vacation, they forfeit any portion of the project grade that is based upon the presentation. Students and parents should keep in mind that missing class is very difficult for students to make-up work and increases the workload for teachers. Also, in a classical school, many classroom discussions, labs, and activities are not able to be done at home and the richness of the child’s education suffers.
Exceptions
An exception may be granted by the Head of SL or Head of SR if a student has been unable to meet the attendance requirements due to circumstances beyond the family’s control (such as extended or repeated illness) and provided the student has, in the judgment of the instructor, achieved minimum mastery of the course content.
In the event of an unexpected event, such as a death or accident in the family, all efforts will be made to assist the student and family in meeting requirements. Adjustments may be made with regard to required assignments; however, mastery of course content is still necessary to satisfactorily complete the course.
Trips to visit college - for the purpose of visiting colleges, two absences during the students junior year and two absences during the student’s senior year will be considered excused if the student notifies the registrar and his/her classroom teachers in advance of the absence.
