If your student has been marked absent and you feel it is an error, please email the teacher to correct.

Attendance Office Hours: 7:30am – 10:30am 

Hello families! Student absences may be reported by an email to the Attendance Clerk, Carrie Rust at Carrie.Rust@mpls.k12.mn.us.  We need the students name, ID number if know, and the reason why they are absent. 

PLEASE SPEAK SLOWLY AND CLEARLY if you call instead and have to leave a voicemail at 612-668-4842. Provide your the students name, ID number if know, and the reason why they are absent. 

Leaving During the School Day with a Note - Parents should email the attendance office or write a note stating the student’s name, date, time and reason the student needs to leave early (phone calls are not acceptable as we need written proof.) The student should present the note (or stop in if the note is emailed) to the attendance office before school starts and they will be issued an exit pass. When it is time to leave they just show the note to their teacher and the front door. The student must keep this pass on them in case they are stopped by a truant officer. Please remember, students need to bring documentation that they kept their appointment to the attendance office in order to be excused. 

Leaving during the school day without a note - If you do not bring a note from your parent to leave school, then the parent must come in, present a picture I.D. and sign you out. Allow ample time for this process. Students can be difficult to track down at times as they could be testing, at lunch, in gym, with the nurse, etc. Please note that we cannot call students from class early to come to the office to wait to be picked up (past practice indicated it is an unwise use of student instructional time.) Also, remember that the attendance office does not issue exit passes based on a phone call. Written proof is needed showing that the parent gave us permission to issue a pass to leave. 

Appointments During the School Day - If students are absent because they went to court, a lawyer, welfare, housing, immigration, social security, doctor/dentist, etc., they need to provide a note from that office. Request a note for school or ask for a business card. It does not count for a parent to write a note saying, “My child went to the doctor.” If you forget your excuse, call the agency that you had the appointment with and ask them to fax an excuse to us at 612-668-4893 and address it to the attention of the Attendance Office. This policy is simply to verify the student had an appointment and kept it. Do not ask us to call the doctor’s office. Due to federal HIPPA laws they are not allowed to give us that information. 

Multiple Illness/Injury Absences - If students are absent due to Illness or Injury for more than three consecutive days or has accumulated more than eight total days during the school year, you need to contact the nurse or provide a health care professional’s written verification before further absences are excused. 

Family Emergencies - Up to 3 days per school year are excusable. Family emergency due to relocation or moving is not an extraordinary circumstance and should be limited whenever possible to one day’s absence.

Family Activity/Vacation - Up to five days per school year are excusable with prior approval from an Assistant Principal. Please provide the planned absence form for the days the student will be gone at least 10 days prior to the first absence. Students need to ask teachers for homework. 

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Non-Excusable Absences – Students will not be excused for job interviews, jobs, driver license exams, babysitting, or photography sessions. This applies to students 18 and older as well.