Regular school attendance is critical for academic success. Our goal is to ensure that every student attends school regularly and on time. Daily presence in school has a huge impact on a student’s academic success, starting in kindergarten. We realize some absences are unavoidable due to health problems or other circumstances. But, we also know that when students miss too much school—excused or unexcused—they can fall behind academically.  Your child is less likely to succeed if he or she is chronically absent—which means missing 18 or more days in a school year.

DCPS has a new Partial Attendance policy. Students arriving to school after 11:25am, departing school before 12:35pm, or attending less than 60% of the school day will be marked absent (regardless of whether it is excused or unexcused).