Parenting is a very difficult job. Parents can become effective partners in their child's education beginning in Kindergarten. When you, as a parent, are a partner in your child's education, your involvement contributes to their success and achievement.

As soon as a child begins school, parents can be enlisted as partners to reinforce the benefits of regular, on-time school attendance. The school can help parents believe in and share the following messages:

• The more you are in school, the more you learn.
• The more you learn, the higher your grades will be.
• The better your grades, the more you will enjoy school.
• The longer you stay in school, the more likely you are to succeed in career and life.

Regular, on-time school attendance is a goal that can only be achieved with the cooperation of both parent and child. Absences contribute to lost learning. Parents should make every effort to schedule family events and appointments during non-school hours. When absences are necessary, parents should call the school on the day of the absence or send a note when the child returns. Please be specific in regards to the reason for the absence - using 'illness' or 'sick' is not acceptable. When absences extend to five or more consecutive school days, parents must arrange for an Independent Study contract.

Tardiness contributes to lost learning, as well. When a child arrives late to class, he/she begins the day behind, having missed the teacher's opening instructions for the day. At Grant Elementary, school begins promptly at 8:24 AM, and there is 'grace' period. The children are expected to be in the classroom when the bell rings, ready to begin their day.

California law defines a habitual truant as having three or moreunexcused absences. The law further defines three tardies as one unexcused absence. Therefore, a student with nine tardies would have the equivalent of three unexcused absences and would be classified as a habitual truant.

In 1976, California school districts were mandated to form an administrative board to hear cases of chronic truancy, thus the creation of the School Attendance Review Board, or SARB. The purpose of the Board is to foster student success by requiring on-time, regular attendance. SARB hearing: The Board, consisting of district personnel and representatives of community agencies, meets with the family in a further attempt to diagnose and recommend procedures for alleviating circumstances that are contributing to specific tardiness, truancy, or attendance problems.

Prior to a referral to SARB, it is the responsibility of the school and District Office to implement a system of progressive interventions, in an attempt to discover why a student has poor attendance and work with the student and his/her family to correct the situation.

There is no substitute for regular attendance at school. The goal of SARB at every school in our District is to promote positive, successful students through regular, on-time attendance.

Iraida Hernandez Pisano, Assistant Principal