Student Absence

Distance Learning Attendance

During Distance Learning, students must attend all assigned synchronous sessions with video on and participating as requested by the teacher.  Teachers will record a daily mark of participation or non-participation for each student participating in Distance Learning.  

During Distance Learning, SVCTE will honor two additional reasons to excuse participation in addition to the allowable reasons to excuse attendance listed in “In-Person Physical Attendance.”

• A parent or guardian who verifies that a student has been attempting to access instruction but experiencing technical difficulties may excuse up to three (3) days of non-participation during Distance Learning. 
• A student experiencing a documented service outage preventing access to Distance Learning instruction (e.g. power, internet, email, or learning management system outage) will be excused from Distance Learning participation.  SVCTE may require documentation of the outage.

In-Person Physical Attendance

Ed Code §48205 and BP/AR 5113 lists absences which are excused as: Medical, religious, legal/court, bereavement, and visiting with immediate family serving in uniformed active duty. Only five mandatory school functions (with prior permission form) are allowed. All other reasons are unexcused absences. 

Absences:

• All high school students must have a parent/guardian verify the reason for their absence to the student services office (three or more consecutive medical absences must be verified with a Doctor’s note).
• SVCTE will make daily automated calls on all unverified absences.
• A parent/guardian of high school students must call the student absence line (408-723-4260) on the date of the absence, or within three days of the absence or provide a written note to the student services office with the following information:
  • Caller’s name and relationship to student, student name, date of, and reason for absence and name of course or instructor.
  • All students enrolled from high school regardless of age will be treated as minors (even if they are over 18).
• Any absence not verified within 3 days will be unexcused.
• Individual classes may have additional attendance requirements for students, such as internships, etc.
• If a student's absence is excused under Education Code §48205, he/she shall be allowed to complete any missed assignments that can be reasonably given, as determined by the teacher of the class. The student must satisfactorily complete the assignment or test within a three day period of time. (Education Code §48205).
• Students with Chronic Absenteeism (determined by 10% or more missed days), may receive a failing grade, no credit for the class, and/or be transferred back to their home schools. (BP/AR 6154, 5113.1; Ed Code §49067).

High school students who are required to miss class at Silicon Valley CTE in order to attend home high school mandated activities are allowed five home high school days apart from 10 absences per semester, provided they bring a signed Home High School Mandated Activity Verification form to the SVCTE Principal for signature prior to their absence(s).  Forms are available in student services at Silicon Valley CTE or  online at www.svcte.org under “Students.”

Semester Attendance Policy for High School Students

1. A 3rd absence will result in a letter home by mail. SVCTE records in the Student Information System. 
2. A 5th absence will result in a letter home by mail; copy forwarded to the district counselor; SVCTE records in the Student Information System. Along with the 5th absence letter, a sample Attendance Agreement/ Contract will be included.
3. A 7th absence will result in the student being placed on an Attendance Agreement/Contract. This contract will be signed by a student, parent/guardian, and the counselor. Students receive intensive intervention and support from multiple sources.
4. An 11th absence or violation of Attendance Agreement will result in one of the following: (1) student withdrawal from SVCTE; (2) partial credit option, if selected by their district; (3) or student earns a failing grade.  All parents/guardians and home schools will be notified in writing. 

Attendance Policy for Adult Students

Adult (non-high school) students will be considered to be on academic probation after the fifth (5) unexcused absence; the student will be called into the Student Services or Counselor’s office for a conference, but no home notifications will be sent. Adult students will be dropped from Silicon Valley CTE, with no refund of fees paid, on their tenth (7) unexcused absence.

Tardiness

Students are expected to be on time to class each day, as would employees reporting to a workplace. Students who are late for class due to a late bus and who have an office-issued bus pass will not be considered “late.” All other tardies are considered unexcused. Students who arrive more than 20 minutes late should report directly to the Student Services office to receive a tardy slip in order to be admitted to class. Students with excessive tardiness will jeopardize their grade and/or enrollment at Silicon Valley CTE.