Attendance

General Requirements

All students ages 6 through 17 must attend school. This is known as compulsory school attendance requirement. When students do not attend school on a regular basis, they are tardy or truant. Intervention strategies will be utilized with the goal of improving school attendance for truant students, with a special focus on eliminating barriers to school attendance. PSD Attendance Policy can be found in full on the District’s website under Board Policy 204 - Attendance. Regular daily class attendance and punctuality are necessary in order for the learning process to be effective. Frequent absences disrupt the instructional process, which requires a continuity of classroom learning experiences, student interaction and study in order to reach the goal of maximum educational benefits for each student. Studies show that students who miss school frequently experience great difficulty in achieving the maximum benefits of instruction. We are aware that there are occasions when a student cannot be present and thus may miss an essential

learning experience.  

Arriving on time to school and class is an important factor to school engagement and success. Repeated unexcused absences or their equivalent, including unexcused tardy minutes, constitute truancy as defined in this guide. Schools will provide interventions and support for class and school tardies before assigning disciplinary consequences. 

The Pennsbury School District prioritizes the safe arrival of all students at each school each day. We are now pleased to offer an efficient student absence reporting system called SafeArrival to support our efforts.

SafeArrival gives parents/guardians 3 options to report an absence (directions for each option are listed below):

• Phone
• PowerSchool Mobile App
• PowerSchool Parent Portal     

This system will be available 24 hours/day, 7 days a week. Future absences can also be reported in advance. Parents/Guardians who report their child's absences using the SafeArrival system will NOT receive a call from our automated attendance system. Additionally, parents/guardians who report their child's absences using the SafeArrival system will NOT be required to send in an additional absence note, as the reporting system will count as the note. 

SAFEARRIVAL DIRECTIONS
POWERSCHOOL MOBILE APP (FREE)

1. Download the PowerSchool Mobile app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
2. Sign in with your PowerSchool Parent Portal account. If you do not have an account, please contact your child's school for assistance.
3. Select "SafeArrival Attendance" from the menu, and then select "Report an absence."

WEB AND MOBILE WEB: PENNSBURY.GUARDIAN.POWERSCHOOL.COM

1. Log on to pennsbury.guardian.powerschool.com. If you do not have an account, please contact your child's school for assistance.
2. Look for the "SafeArrival Attendance" tile and select "Report an absence."

TOLL-FREE PHONE

1. Call 1-866-318-3517
2. Follow the prompts to report an absence.

SAFE-ARRIVAL TIPS

• Your username and password are the same for both the mobile app and the website.
• Options for reporting are available anytime, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, up to the cut-off time on the day of the absence (11:45 p.m.). If you do not report your child's absence in SafeArrival by 11:45 p.m. on the day of the absence, you will need to email the attendance office at your child's school within 3 days to report the absence.
• In the event of an unreported absence in SafeArrival, the SchoolMessenger Communicate automated notification system will contact parents/guardians via email, text (if opted in to receive texts), and phone. The phone number that will appear on your caller ID is 866-318-3517. 
• If you report your child's absence in SafeArrival before the start of the school day, you will not receive any notification, and you will not need to supply a note to your child's school's attendance email. (See list below.) 
• Educational trips can not be reported through SafeArrival. Please complete the necessary forms found on the attendance webpage and obtain permission from your building principal. 

When a student is absent, their parent/guardian receives notice from the school on the day of the student's absence. If a parent/guardian does not use SafeArrival to report their student's absence, they have 3 days from the date the child returns to school to turn in an excuse note. Excuse notes can be written or submitted electronically through the attendance email address for your child's school. Until the excuse note is received, the absence/lateness is treated as unexcused. Parents/guardians can submit an excuse for up to ten absences per school year. Any absences after the tenth day will require an excuse from a licensed healthcare provider.

If an excuse note is not submitted, the absence will be considered unlawful and noted as unexcused. After 3 unexcused absences the family will receive written notification from the school. If attendance does not improve and additional unexcused absences occur, a referral to community and out of school supports may be made and, as a last result, truancy charges will be filed with the local magistrate.