Attendance and Homework

Attendance

The administrators, counselors and teachers strongly support regular attendance of students.  A student’s grades are often a reflection of how often the student is absent.  Excessive absences usually result in poorer grades.  A parent or guardian should call the school when his/her child is absent.  A parent may request assignments and pick them up in the office.  If a parent knows that a child will be absent, it is recommended that he let the teacher and the office know in advance so that assignments can be arranged.

If a student is absent, he is given the opportunity to make up any of the assignments missed while being absent.  It is the responsibility of the student to ask for the work that needs to be made up.  The student will have two days for every one day missed to complete the make-up work.  When the student completes the work on time, he will receive the grade earned without a penalty.

At the middle school, students are routinely asked to perform extra practice on topics covered in class, or explore material to be covered the next day.  If a  football team didn't take time to meet and practice the skills they learned, they would have little chance of having a successful season.  Students need to be in class to learn and practice what they have been taught.

Students who don’t make good homework choices struggle in school.   An average sixth grader can expect 30 minutes to an hour of homework each night, in varying subject areas.  Teacher teams cooperate to balance homework to try to avoid overload.  Each morning, the day’s assignments are posted for students to copy into their agenda so students are aware of what they will need to bring home for practice. 

Responsibility Reward Trips/Late Work Policy

Completing work responsibly is an important life skill.  Thus, the sixth grade teachers expect and encourage students to be punctual about handing in assignments when they are due.  Students are challenged to earn rewards quarterly for being responsible and having no more than five (5) late papers (combined) in their academic subjects.  REWARD TRIPS are planned quarterly by the sixth grade teachers for students who qualify.  Those who do not qualify stay behind to have a regular school day.

The agenda is a great communication tool used by 6th grade teachers and students  to record lesson topics and homework assignments. Some students still struggle with managing their time, though.  Since practice does make perfect, the teachers accept homework up to 2 school days past the due date, but require a full-letter-grade penalty.  If homework is not turned in after two days, the student will receive a grade of a zero for that assignment.  Teachers may, in cooperation with the student and parent or counselor, extend a deadline on an assignment, given special circumstances or particular needs of a student.