Attendance Policyeveryday counts.bmp
The Paradise Valley Unified School District Governing Board has adopted the Court Unified Truancy Suppression (CUTS) program. It is a state program, which provides a unified approach to dealing with the issues of truancies, tardies, and excessive excused absences.

The Governing Board believes that one of the keys to academic excellence is regular attendance to class. Attendance is the responsibility of the students and parents and is a vital key to a successful school program. It is imperative that parents call the attendance office by 10:00 a.m. the day of each absence. An unexcused absence, which includes an unexcused absence from even one class period, is considered a "truancy" by the court system.

STUDENT TRUANCY PROCEDURE:

1st - 4th Truancy: With each truancy, a conference with the student, parent contact and an after school Friday detention will be assigned.

5th Truancy: Student conference, parent contact, and a citation issued to the Juvenile Court Center. A hearing date is scheduled.

EXCESSIVE EXCUSED ABSENCES:

Most parents call their student in absent when they are ill or need to be absent; however, the "CUTS" program mandates that the school notify parents when their student has accumulated ten or more excused absences in a semester. Ten or more excused absences in a semester, without a doctor's verification documenting a medical condition, may result in a citation to the Juvenile Court Center through the CUTS program.

FIRST HOUR TARDY POLICY:

1st & 2nd Tardy:  Warning from the office
3rd Tardy:  Conference with student and written notification sent home.
4th & More:  Appropriate consequences assigned by school administration.

If you have any questions regarding this Attendance/Tardy Policy, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs. Jan Hamrick, Assistant Principal, at 480-538-7100. Thank you for your support in our efforts to encourage good attendance and punctuality habits.

attendancelist.bmpC.U.T.S. Program

School attendance is not only a good habit, state law requires it.  Arizona State Law (15-802.A, 15-803.E) requires every person who has custody of a child between the ages of six and sixteen years shall make sure the child attends school full time unless unable to attend due to illness or another legitimate reason.

To encourage and improve school attendance, Mountain Trail has implemented a truancy program in partnership with Maricopa County Juvenile Court.  This truancy program is called C.U.T.S. (Court Unified Truancy Suppression). We will be tracking attendance very closely.  Your child is expected to be at school every day, unless there is an excused reason not to be.  An absence is defined as a minimum of one missed class period per day.  An unexcused absence will count as a truant day as defined by law.  A student is "habitually truant" if he/she has five or more unexcused absences from school OR is absent more than ten percent (18 days) of the required number of school days per year whether the absence is excused or unexcused.

When a student has five or more unexcused absences or 18 excessive absences (excused OR unexcused), the student can be cited to the CUTS Program through the Juvenile Court.  A hearing will be held at the district office with representatives from Mountain Trail Middle School and the Juvenile Court.  The parent(s) and the child will be expected to appear at the hearing.  Consequences at the hearing may include the following: required  attendance of the parent and the child at an education class (to be held on Saturdays), work hours assigned to the child, counseling, etc.  The parent will be assessed a Diversion fee ($25-40).  Failure to complete these consequences may result in the prosecution of the child at the Juvenile Court or suspension of the juvenile's license until the age of 18.

The education of your child is extremely important to us.  This program is another way that Mountain Trail Middle School is working with the community to ensure a quality education for all students.  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Mrs. Hamrick, Assistant Principal, at 480-538-7100.

Thanks you for your support regarding this program.

Jan Hamrick
Assistant Principal
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