Arrivals
Students may start arriving at school at 6:55 A.M. All students arriving between 7:00 – 7:10 will be required to report to the cafeteria. Students may be dropped off in the front of the building. Students may be picked up after school in the front parking lot. No student should be dropped off nor picked up in the back-parking lot.
The warning bell will ring at 7:15 a.m. Any student that is not in their 1st bell class at 7:20 am will be considered “tardy to school” or “tardy to class”. Any student arriving at school after 7:20 a.m. must report to the main office to receive a pass.
Tardies/Late Arrival
If your student is going to be tardy or absent, a parent must contact the attendance line at 644-1133. The number is an automated system that will take your call 24 hours a day. Please state the students name, parent name and reason for absence.
- Students arriving tardy to school must sign in at the front office. Parents are not required to sign in, but an acceptable reason and appropriate documentation must be presented for the tardy to be excused.
- Students that are picked up after school do not need to be signed out through the Main Office. However, NO student will be dismissed early from school unless they are signed out by an authorized adult. (Authorized adults are those identified on the Emergency Medical Form)
- Students who become ill during the school day must report to the Nurse’s office. Students are not permitted to call home stating they are sick without staff permission, as our nurse will contact a parent.
Automated Attendance Calls
We use Lakota's notification system to alert you of a child’s unexcused absence from school. This automated system helps expedite our daily process for absence notifications and uses the same parent/guardian phone number and email address provided through Home Access Center.
If your child is absent or going to be tardy from school for any reason, you must notify the school by 8 a.m. If your child is marked absent and you have not reported the absence by this time, you will receive a call and email between 8:15 and 8:45 a.m. To respond to the automated call, you will need to call the main office. Failure to report the reason will result in an unexcused absence.
Regular Absences
Regular attendance by all students is important. Students who have irregular attendance tend to have poor academic success. For this reason, it is important that parents and students make every effort to make appointments outside the school hours.
If your student is going to be tardy or absent, a parent must contact the attendance line at 644-1133. The number is an automated system that will take your call 24 hours a day. Please state the students name, parent name and reason for absence.
Student absences should be called in before 8:00 a.m. Automated attendance calls will go out beginning at 8:15 a.m.
A student is considered EXCUSED for the following reasons:
- Personal illness
- Illness in the immediate family
- Death of a relative
- Quarantine of the home
- Work at home due to the absence of parents or guardians
- Religious reasons
- Emergency reasons that must be considered to have a good and sufficient cause for the absence (court appearance, suspensions, etc.)
To assist with attendance record keeping, it is encouraged that you send a doctor’s note anytime your child attends a medical appointment (including dental, orthodontic, etc.) during school hours.
Dismissal/Early Dismissal
Students are dismissed when the bell rings at 2:10. If they are a car rider,
they will exit the main doors and locate your car in the parking lot.
Vehicles are not permitted in the back or side of the building during dismissal. This is for safety reasons as our student walkers are making their way home.When a parent/family member arrives at the school to pick up a child for early release, they are to report directly to the main office. When the person picking up the child is unknown to office staff, that person will be asked to prove identity by displaying a driver’s license or other photo identification.
You will need to sign your student out indicating the reason for dismissal. If the reason is sick, please write a brief description of the symptoms your student is experiencing. We will then call the student from the nurse’s office. If you are signing out your student as sick and they have not seen the nurse first, you will not be able to sign them out until they check in at the clinic.
If a family member other than whose listed as emergency contacts on their profile is picking them up for the day. Please send an email to contactplains@lakotaonline.com. You will need to state the name and relationship of the person dismissing your student as well as your child’s information (name & grade).
If you have any questions regarding this procedure, please contact the main office.
Truancy
A student is considered truant if he or she is absent or tardy from school without an excused reason. UNEXCUSED absences/tardies include, but are not limited to the following:
- Missed bus
- Overslept
- No parent note or excuse offered
There are consequences for unexcused tardies:
- The second unexcused tardy the student gets a warning;
- The third unexcused tardy will result in a post card sent home to parents;
- The fourth unexcused tardy will result in detention; and
- The fifth unexcused tardy is a Saturday School.
Planned Absences
Planned absences for longer than 2 days require Administrative approval via email request to kim.wade@lakotaonline.com and copy to the Data Specialist: jamese.montgomery@lakotaonline.com
Per our school policy, teachers are not required to make long-range assignments for vacationing students. Also, students may take tests missed during their absence at the convenience of the teacher. All work given prior to the vacation is due on the first day a student returns from their vacation.
