Montclair Attendance Policy
Denver Public Schools
2025-26 School Year
At Montclair it is our collective responsibility as leaders, educators, families and community members that our students not only succeed, but thrive. One critical component of ensuring our students’ success is identifying and removing barriers that keep our students from coming to school each day. Strong attendance helps each student develop socially, emotionally, and academically. Not only does one student’s strong attendance help that individual student, but it also helps their classmates, teachers and broader school community by ensuring consistency and stability.
Attendance is important at an early age; patterns are established within the first year students enter school and tend to be consistent throughout elementary school; attendance gaps begin to widen when students enter middle and high school.
All missed learning, regardless of the reasons for missing school, impacts student success. Because of this, DPS focuses on decreasing Chronic Absenteeism: missing at least 10 percent of the time enrolled in a school year for any reason, including excused and unexcused absences and suspensions. The focus is on the impact on academic and social emotional learning as a result of missed school attendance.
When calculating chronic absenteeism and attendance rates, each minute of the school day is counted. This means that the minutes of class that a student misses when arriving to school late or getting picked up early from school impact that student’s chronic absenteeism status and attendance rate. We want each student at school all day, every day!
It is important for students to be on time and stay for all classes every day in order to improve academic performance and be ready for college and career opportunities.
Each school in Denver Public Schools has an attendance target. The attendance target for Montclair for the 2025-26 school year is 95%.
Parent/Guardian’s Role in Attendance
There are practices parents can implement to help ensure their child is set up for success and attending class.
You can find additional information on steps to take to help set routines that lead to strong attendance from the Attendance Works organization.
Excused Absences
As per Denver Public Schools’ Board Policy, absences can be excused if both the parent/guardian and the Principal excuse the absence. Parents/guardians must contact the school each time the student is absent, arriving at school late or being picked up early in order for the school to know that the parent/guardian is aware of the absence and excusing the absence.
As per state law, the following absences will be excused:
Additionally, Montclair will excuse absences for the following reasons:
Documentation is not required for any excused absence. However, after a student has missed 10 or more school days in one school year for illness, injury, or a physical, mental, or emotional disability or condition, Montclair will request medical documentation before excusing ongoing absences. We may also consider whether the student requires a health plan and/or consider whether a Section 504 plan or IEP eligibility determination is needed. If the student already has a health plan, Section 504 plan or IEP, the team may need to be reconvened to see if the plan needs to be adjusted.
How Sick is Too Sick?
| Keep your child home or seek care if they: | Send your child to school even if they:* |
| Have a fever of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher | Have a mild cold, which may include a runny nose and/or cough |
| Have vomited two or more times in the last 24 hours | Have eye drainage without fever, eye pain or eyelid redness |
| Have a persistent cough, difficulty breathing or trouble catching their breath or if they develop a fever with the cough | Have a mild stomach ache |
| Have a rash with blisters that are draining, are painful, look like bruises and/or if a fever develops | Have a mild rash with no other symptoms |
| Have eye swelling, eye pain, trouble seeing or an eye injury | Have head lice. Though they are annoying and should be treated, lice are not a reason to exclude a child from school |
| Have a sore throat causing drooling, trouble swallowing or a fever and/or rash | Have not had a fever overnight and they have not taken fever-reducing medicine during that time |
*If you do not know whether to send your child to school or have specific concerns regarding your child’s health, contact your child’s health-care provider, a local urgent care of the school nurse.
Unexcused Absences
An unexcused absence is any absence without the permission of both the parent/guardian and the school principal (or someone the principal designates). When a student is absent, arrives late or leaves early without an absence request from the parent/guardian, the time missed will be considered unexcused.
Tardies
A student who arrives to class after the start time and within the first 50 percent of the class period will be marked tardy. A student who is absent more than 50 percent of any Attendance Period during a scheduled school day shall be considered absent for that entire period.
DPS ELEMENTARY:
Getting Your Child to School on time MATTERS!
Did you know…
| If in a school year, your child is late every day by…
5 minutes 10 minutes 15 minutes 20 minutes 30 minutes |
Your child will have lost approximately…
2.5 days of school 5 days of school 7.7 days of school 10.3 days of school 15.5 days of school |
And have missed approximately…
15 lessons 29 lessons 44 lessons 58 lessons 88 lessons |
Please make sure your child arrives on time to maintain strong school attendance
and stay on track academically!
Remember: Absences = Lost Opportunities
DPS SECONDARY (6-12):
Getting Your Child to School on time MATTERS!
Did you know…
| If in a school year, your child is late every day by…
5 minutes 10 minutes 15 minutes 20 minutes 30 minutes |
Your child will have lost approximately…
2.3 days of school 4.7 days of school 7 days of school 9.5 days of school 14 days of school |
And have missed approximately…
15 classes 29 classes 44 classes 58 classes 88 classes |
Please make sure your child arrives on time to maintain strong school attendance
and stay on track academically!
Remember: Absences = Lost Opportunities
Extended Absences
An Extended Absence is defined as:
These could include, for example, a longer trip out of the country, or a hospital stay after a surgery with an expected return date to school. During extended absences, Montclair, in accordance with DPS procedures, will not provide online or make-up work to replace in-person instruction.
During this time, the student will be withdrawn from Montclair, and will be re-enrolled immediately upon return.
Make-Up Work
If parents/guardians are aware that their student will be absent, please let Montclair know as soon as possible. When possible, classroom teachers will prepare make-up work for the student for up to five (5) days of absences. Make-up work will not be provided for students who will be absent for ten (10) or more days of school. Students have five (5) days upon returning to school to complete and submit make-up work and work that was due during the absence in order to receive full credit.
Although we will make every effort to help each student recover academically from their absence, attendance directly impacts student learning. Make-up work cannot fully replace in-person learning experiences.
Montclair’s Approach to Supporting Attendance
At Montclair, we work to implement a comprehensive approach to support strong student attendance. The following describes the six (6) components of our attendance system:
We are looking forward to partnering with you to ensure your student develops socially, emotionally and academically through strong attendance!
If you have any questions about Montclair’s attendance policy, please contact the school.