Attendance
Our mission at Founders is to provide an exceptional classical education and to encourage the virtues of character necessary for human flourishing. This requires a commitment, over the course of many years, to a specific course of study. A chief element of that commitment is regular and punctual attendance.
School starts promptly at 8:00am for all students. It is critical to student safety that we know where all students are on school days. Parents must notify the attendance office every day a child is to be away from school. To notify the attendance office, email or send an email message to your student’s teachers and the Attendance Clerk at [email protected]. In the message, please include your child’s name and the reason for his or her absence. Attendance should be notified before 8:00am each day the student is absent. If a parent fails to notify the office of a student’s absence, the absence will be coded as unexcused.
Alerts to Parents
Parents receive an alert when their student is marked absent. If the student is tardy to class, in another room, or testing, he or she may be marked absent in error. The absence notification will automatically be sent before the absence can be corrected. This error will be corrected as soon as possible. Please contact the front office if you have a concern.
The 90% Rule
Students must attend 90% of a class in order to receive credit for that class. This threshold includes both excused and unexcused absences. If a student is not physically present in class, regardless of the reason, the student’s total attendance percentage is reduced. Students who do not attend 90% of a class are in danger of failing the class because of absences and will be referred to an attendance committee.
Unexcused Absences
An unexcused absence is any absence not excused by law or listed in the RES Parent/Student Handbook. Unexcused absences require that all work assigned during the absence is due immediately upon return and subject to a reduction in grade according to the late work policy. If a parent fails to notify the office of a student’s absence before the absence occurs, the absence will be deemed unexcused.
Excused Absences
Teachers will allow students to make up work for excused absences according to the policy below, under “Make Up Work.” Absences will be excused for religious observances, court appearances, illness, family emergencies, and other reasons required by law. If a student is absent for 3 or more consecutive days due to illness a doctor’s note excusing all days absent must be delivered to the front office or submitted by email to the Attendance Clerk. For more information please consult the RES Parent/Student Handbook.
Make-up Work
Missed work due to an excused absence must be completed within the same number of school days as the absence. For example, if a student is absent from school for 3 days because of the flu, that student will have 3 school days to complete the work missed while sick.
An absence on the date of a major assignment, such as a test or major paper, will not extend the deadline of that assignment. The student must complete the assignment the day of his or her return.
Truancy
A student who is absent from school without permission will be considered truant and is subject to disciplinary action. Specifically, Texas state law holds that “if the student is absent from school on 10 or more days or parts of days within a six-month period in the same school year or on three or more days or parts of days within a four-week period, the student’s parent and the student are subject to prosecution” (Sec. 25.095 of the Texas Education Code).
Tardies
Tardiness not only delays one’s own learning but interferes with the learning of one’s classmates. Upon arriving to school tardy, a student must sign in at either the Upper School office or Grammar School office and receive a tardy pass to be admitted into class
After a student has been tardy to school 5 times, he or she will receive a Poor Behavior Slip. Students will be disciplined more seriously if tardies become habitual. Egregious tardies may be converted to unexcused absences.
Early Departures
(updated July 2023)
Early Departures end at 3 on regular school days and 11:30 on Early Release days. During school hours, all students must be signed out at the front office. Instructional time is valuable, so students will not be released from their classroom until the parent arrives to sign them out in the front office. A student’s absence from any part of the school day is unexcused except for the reasons listed in the RES Founder Parent/Student Handbook.
Except in the case of an emergency or serious unavoidable circumstance, refrain from picking up your child before release time. When it comes to education, there is no substitute for time on task . The more time in class, the more your child will learn. Schedule doctor and dentist appointments before or after school, on the afternoons of early release days, or on a scheduled day off.
Doctors’ Appointments & Doctors' Notes
(updated July 2023)
So that a student does not miss out on valuable class time, we encourage families to schedule doctor appointments after school. Students who must miss class for a doctor's appointment are responsible for making up any work they missed promptly. Doctor’s notes should be emailed to [email protected]. Physical copies of notes will not be accepted this year, as everything has to be uploaded into Skyward. Please attempt to schedule doctor’s appointments early in the morning so students are present for the attendance window (9:50-10:10).
If a student is to be picked up by someone other than a parent or approved contact, written permission must be given in advance. The student will not be allowed to leave until we receive written permission from the parent. Please email the student’s teachers and the Attendance Clerk at least one day before the pick up. This includes carpools to and from field trips, games, academic competitions, and other events.