Portland Public School

Portland Public Schools Daily Attendance Procedures

When is attendance taken and recorded within Portland Public Schools? - In all school buildings, daily attendance is taken and recorded at the start of each school day. Attendance is also taken and recorded regularly throughout the school day and/or by the teacher at the start of each class period.

How are absences recorded within Portland Public Schools? - There are two types of daily absences in Portland Public Schools, “Absent Unverified” and “Absent Verified.” “Absent Unverified” means that the student is not present and that no communication from a parent/guardian has been received regarding the student’s absence. In such situations, our assumption is that the parent/guardian is not aware of the absence and/or that the student is skipping school. “Absence Verified” means that the student is not present and that the parent has communicated with the school via phone call, email, or signed note to report the absence.

In Powerschool and on attendance reports, unverified absences appear as “AU.” Verified absences appear as “AV” followed by the code specifying the type of verified absence that has been reported. All absence types are listed and defined below along with their respective PowerSchool (PS) codes:

Absence Type	Definition	PS Code
Unverified	The student is not present in school and no communication from a parent/guardian has been received regarding the student’s absence. Considered “skipping school.”	AU
Verified Medically Excused	The student is absent for illness or other medical reasons for which a doctor’s note has been provided.	AV-MEX
Verified Bereavement	The student is absent due to a death or other family emergency beyond the control of the student’s family.	AV-BER
Verified Religious Observance	The student is absent due to observance of a religious holiday or event.	AV-REL
Verified Approved Academic Experience	The student is absent due to participation in a previously-approved academic experience (i.e. internship, college visit, academic competition, etc.).	AV-AAE
Verified Transportation Issue	The student is absent due to the unavailability of transportation that is normally provided by the district.	AV-TRA
Verified Mental Health Day	The student is absent for a mental health day. Each student may use up to two mental health days, per state law, at any point in the school year.	AV-MHD
Verified Out of School Suspension	The student is absent due to serving an assigned out of school suspension.	AV-OSS
Verified Unexcused	The student is absent with parent communication but not for any of the reasons above.	AV-UEX

When does school attendance become a significant issue? - Being in school every day is as important as ever before! There are clear correlations between a student’s attendance and their success in and beyond school. The state defines two types of problematic absence: Chronic Absenteeism and Truancy. Each of these designations reflects serious patterns of absence warranting additional support and interventions. Each Portland school has designed processes for supporting families and children who approach and/or become chronically absent or truant. Each of these designations is further described below:

Absence Concern

Definition

Chronic Absenteeism

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For any reason, including medical absences, suspensions, etc, a student has missed 10% or more of the days to-date that school has been in session. For example, a student who has been enrolled for the first 30 school days at the beginning of the school year and has been absent three of those days is chronically absent. If a student misses 18 days in one school year, that student will be chronically absent

School Truancy

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A student has accumulated four or more unexcused absences in one month (30 consecutive calendar days) or 10 or more unexcused absences in one school year. For matters of truancy, any absence up to nine days is considered excused with parent/guardian notification to the school. For day ten and beyond, an absence is only considered excused when due to: illness accompanied by a doctor’s note (AV-MEX), religious observance (AV-REL), bereavement/family emergency (AV-BER), lack of district-provided school transportation (AV-TRA), and/or approved educational opportunities (AV-AAE).

To better assist parents/guardians, our communication platform, Parentsquare, will generate automatic notifications via an email and phone call when your child has been marked absent. Upon receiving these notifications, the parent should then phone the school, send an email, or provide a signed note to move the absence from “Absent Unverified” to “Absent Verified.” If the parent/guardian has already notified the school, no further action is needed.

Absences may be reported by parents/guardians by phoning the school directly, by utilizing the school’s attendance email, and/or by sending in a signed note. Please find below phone numbers and attendance emails for each of our schools.

School	Phone Number	Attendance Email
Valley View School	(860) 342-3131	vvattendance@portlandct.us
Gildersleeve School	(860) 342-0411	gsattendance@porltandct.us
Brownstone Intermediate School	(860) 342-6765	bisattendance@portlandct.us
Portland Middle School	(860) 342-1880	pmsattendance@portlandct.us
Portland High School	(860) 342-1720	phsattendance@portlandct.us

As always, the goal of Portland Public Schools is to ensure success and achievement for each and every student. This commitment includes working with families to ensure regular school attendance, including solving any related challenges, obstacles, or impediments. Should you have any questions, concerns, or needs related to school attendance or the information provided in this letter, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s school principal. We look forward to a successful school year for your child, one based on high attendance that best supports their continued growth and development.