Attendance & Absence Reporting

For a full list of Excused, Unexcused, and Warranted Absences, and our attendance policy, please see the Attendance section of the San Jose Unified Handbook 2025-26.Excused Absences:

• Student’s illness.
• Student’s medical appointment.
• Quarantine.
• Student’s legal appointment.
• Attending the funeral service of an immediate family member* (1 day in California, 3 days out of state).

* Immediate family includes mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, brother, sister, or a person determined by the student’s parent or guardian to be in such close association with the student as to be considered the student’s immediate family. Please refer to CA Education Code 48205.

Unexcused Absences:

• All other absences, including vacation, parent's or sibling's illness or appointments, car trouble, etc. are unexcused.

Warranted Absences:

• Warranted Absences may be excused at principal/principal designee's discretion with advance notice and in accordance with AR 5113.

Please visit the Health Information section of the SJUSD website for up-to-date information on Student Illness (when to bring students, when to keep them home), COVID-19, health mandates, immunizations, etc.Illness or Injury at School:

When a student becomes sick or injured at school they will be assessed by the nurse and treated. Parents/guardians will be called to pick them up if necessary. If the student will be absent the following day, parents must report the absence to the school.

• We don’t make assumptions about attendance based on previous absences since circumstances can change daily.
• We do not pre-code absences due to illness without a doctor’s note with specific dates.

Chronic absenteeism means your student has missed 10% or more school. Attendance matters…every school day counts!

Children need to be at school every day to learn. A national study released in 2016 found that children who are chronically absent in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade are much less likely to read at grade level by the third grade. Students who cannot read at grade level by the end of third grade are four times more likely than proficient readers to drop out of high school.

For more information on chronic absenteeism, visit the Attendance section of the SJUSD Parent/Student Handbook.

• If your student visits the doctor, dentist, or other medical professional, please provide a note from the facility with the student's name and date of service.
• If your student is absent for 3 consecutive days due to illness or injury, we ask that you provide a doctor’s note.
• If your student is injured and has a physical restriction, a doctor's note is required in order for the student to sit out of P.E. or recess.
• If your student was diagnosed with a contagious illness (i.e. pink eye, strep throat, lice, etc.), please call the school's Health Office so we can distribute exposure notices. (408) 535-6247 x 37105

If your student is on an Intradistrict Transfer, part of their agreement is that they must maintain satisfactory attendance. Recommendation to terminate a student's Intradistrict Transfer may be made if the student fails to maintain:

• Regular and punctual school attendance. Six (6) or more unexcused absences and more than twelve (12) tardies within a school year is considered excessive.

Students are expected to remain in class until the end of the school day, however, if your child has to leave early for any reason, please let the teacher know and call or email the school in advance. When you come into the office to sign the student out, you must show your picture ID.* Give yourself a few extra minutes, especially if you are picking up during recess, lunch, or PE.  See the Bell Schedule.

*NOTE: Only parents/guardians and people on the student’s emergency list may sign a student out during the school day, unless permission is provided in writing in advance (email: reed@sjusd.org). To update your student's emergency list, visit the Parent Portal or come into the office to fill out a form.

Reporting tardies:

See Reporting an Absence or Tardy above.

It is the responsibility of the parents/guardians to ensure that their children are in school on time every day (9:00am to line up and in their classes by 9:05am). Please call or email when your child will be arriving late. Let us know the student’s first and last name, their teacher's name, the reason for the tardy, and the approximate time they will arrive.Students arriving after 9:05am will enter the school through the front gate and come to the office for a Late Pass (the side gates will be locked)

Morning Schedule

Excused Tardies:

• Student’s illness or injury.
• Student’s medical appointments.
• Student's legal appointments.

Unexcused Tardies:

• All other reasons, including losing track of time, eating, bathing, using the restroom, oversleeping, car trouble, traffic, parent fault, and sibling fault, etc. are unexcused.

Truant Tardies:

• Students arriving 30 or more minutes late (9:35am or later) are truant. After 3 truancies, the family will receive a truancy letter from the district. See Truancy section below.

San José Unified welcomes our obligation to educate our students to the best of our ability. To do this, students need to be at school on time and attend school regularly. Studies have shown that missing even five days of school a year can harm learning. Because of this, State law requires all children ages 6-18 to be enrolled in full-time education. A student who misses three or more days of school or is 30 minutes late without an approved excuse will be subject to our truancy process. Parents of students who miss five or more days of school, even if excused, will be contacted by school employees so that San José Unified may work in partnership with families to help our students get back to school and engage in learning.

• 3 absences will result in a reminder from the district.
• 3 unexcused absences or 3 tardies of more than 30 minutes (or any combination thereof): the student is legally truant. A First Time Truancy letter will be sent from the district.
• 2 additional unexcused absences or tardies more than 30 minutes, totaling 5 or more, will result in a Habitual Truancy letter and a meeting with a Student Support Counselor.

Visit here for Attendance Improvement Information:

Resource Packet Elementary 2025-2026 English

Resource Packet Elementary 2025-2026 Spanish