Attendance

Key Things to Remember

• The school year is broken up into Learning Periods (LPs).
• Attendance can be completed beginning the last day of each LP and is due the Friday following the last day of LP.
• Families LOG attendance daily in student’s “Activities Log/GridLogCheck” through their Parent Portal.
• Families SIGN activities log/gridlogcheck at end of LP in Parent Portal
• HSTs CLAIM, Sign and “Print” (Archive) Attendance in Pathways.

IMPORTANT:
Our funding is directly tied to student engagement (attendance). It is important that parents participate in educating their children every day and that they log attendance when required.

Official Attendance Policy

Parents are responsible for ensuring that their child is actively engaged in learning each school day. Activities Log/Griglogcheck must be signed and submitted to your HST at the end of each learning period. The following are acceptable reasons for not logging attendance: prolonged illness, hospitalization, bereavement, family emergency, natural disaster. In such cases, the absences would be considered excused. Some instances may require verification, such as a doctor’s note, to be provided to your teacher. HSTs will be knowledgeable of student progress, learning, and engagement in school. This can occur at regularly scheduled meetings, calls, emails, and or other methods. If the HST is unable to obtain knowledge of the progress, learning, and engagement in school, attempts to contact will be documented and a non-compliance letter may be sent. After multiple failed attempts to contact a family, the school may deem that enrollment in The Cottonwood School is not in the best interest of the student and he/she may be subject to withdrawal.

Non-Compliance

Not submitting attendance can trigger our Non-Compliance process. Please review our policy. 

Attendance Due Dates – Compliance Dates

HSTs have one week from the end of the LP to get attendance entirely complete (all families sign and HST claims). If you are not able to complete this process by the due date, please work with your IA to develop a plan of action.

TIP: Alert your families the day of or the before the last day of the LP to sign on that day.
If a parent has not submitted a completed attendance log within a few days of the LP end date, please follow up with friendly reminders and work with them to get it completed. Wait until all parents have signed their learning logs before claiming attendance.

Q: What if I have parents who have not signed their attendance logs by the due date of the LP? Do I still claim attendance in Pathways?
In this circumstance, please reach out to your SIS Specialist for guidance and work with your IA to implement noncompliance policy and procedures if appropriate.

Documenting Absences

The days claimed by the HST must match the dates logged by the parent. As you check attendance throughout the LP, verify any legitimate absences with the family and document in Contact Manager in Pathways. Mark student as absent for the corresponding day(s) when claiming your attendance. You can open your attendance and mark them as absent as soon as you know there is a verified absence so that you do not have to remember which days they were absent when claiming at the end of the LP.

Verifying and Claiming Attendance

Before claiming your attendance, you should already be aware of any legitimate absences as it is required to view attendance and follow up daily. Watch for exclamation points in yellow triangle when claiming attendance, alerting you to discrepancies. Confirm that parents have signed learning logs under Compliance- Archive Compliance (report title is Gridlock Check) prior to claiming attendance as HST. If needed, view individual signed learning logs in order to determine errors or absences. See Pathways Tutorial How to Check for Attendance (Gridlock Check) Completion

If you claim attendance and there are any discrepancies between the days logged by parent and the day you claimed, reach out to your SAA (Student Accountability Assistant) for a code in order to modify the attendance claim. Watch for a stop sign at the top of your roster to alert you to Pathways errors that need to be fixed.

Q: How do I change the attendance I’ve already claimed?
Email the Authorization Request Number (4-digit code) from the bottom of the attendance claim page to your SAACompliance Specialist. They will send you a confirmation code you can use to make changes to claimed attendance. See Pathways Tutorial on Claiming Attendance.

Q: What is the name of the report title where the Attendance Logs get archived?
Attendance Logs are archived in the GridLogCheck report title.

Q: How do I complete attendance when a student withdraws in the middle of an LP?
After the parent has logged attendance for the last day of enrollment, the HST must obtain a signature. This can be accomplished by printing the log (paper or as PDF) by choosing the Print option while viewing the log and delivering to the parent for a signature (parent can print out, sign and send photo back to HST or sign electronically). HST then manually uploads as Gridlock Check. HST may wait until the end of the learning period to claim attendance for the student who has withdrawn.

SEE PATHWAYS TUTORIALS for How to Check for Attendance (Gridlock Check) Completion

How to Send an Attendance Log for Signature

Occasionally, a parent logs their attendance for the month, but does not sign and archive. The HST can direct them to toggle back to the relevant LP to sign and archive. Or, if circumstances warrant, the HST can send the attendance log to the parent for a signature (much like how a Master Agreement is sent). SEE PATHWAYS TUTORIALS.