Attendance

Regular attendance is critical to your child’s success in school. One hundred percent (100%) attendance is the goal of every student at P.S. 202. Please check the school calendar so that you can plan your family vacations for times when school is not in session.  Taking your child out of school for family trips is against New York City regulations, and also disrupts your child’s learning.  When possible, visits to the doctor and other appointments should be made for outside school hours.  If you must schedule a medical appointment during the school day, the student should be sent to school either before or after the scheduled appointment. If there must be an absence due to medical appointments, court appearances, or death in the family, there must be a letter on file explaining the reason for the absence, and the parent/guardian’s signature (on any note that is not from a doctor.)   After three consecutive days’ absence, a doctor’s note is required.  It cannot be stressed enough how important regular attendance is to your child’s education.  However, if your child is sick, please keep him or her out of school until well again; this is one form of sharing we want to discourage at school!  Attendance records are kept in the main office.

You should also know that attendance statistics are a component in the DOE’s assessment of a school’s performance.  Make sure that your child has the best school attendance possible by keeping him/her home only for the following reasons: serious illness, medical appointments, court appearance, and other legally accepted reasons.