Attendance

• Students arriving 10 or more minutes late to a class are marked 'absent'. Students arriving within the first 10 minutes of class are marked 'tardy'. 

• Cases involving prolonged illness or unusual circumstances will be reviewed by the school administration through an appeal process.

• A twice-daily phone call is made home stating that your student missed one or more class periods for that day.

• An attendance letter warning of loss of credit is mailed home on the fifth and seventh excused or unexcused absences for a given period. 

Tardies

• Students are considered absent from class if they are 10 or more minutes late. Students arriving within the first 10 minutes to class will be counted tardy.

• Students arriving with a note from a doctor, dentist, or other appointment will sign in and be sent to class. Depending on the student's arrival time, the student will be marked as an excused tardy or absence.  

  • Excused absences count toward a student's maximum of nine absences.

  • Excused tardies count towards a student's total number of tardies. 

• Teachers track tardies, excessive tardies are documented and reported to Administration.

• Each morning, please plan ahead for traffic around & within the campus.

How Parents Can Help

• Inform our Attendance Office when your student will be absent. 

• Communicate with your student the importance of arriving to school on time for each class period.

• Notify our Attendance Office of any phone number or address changes. 

• Provide our Attendance Office with notes from doctors, dentists, etc., that excuse your student from school due to appointments, illness, or injuries. 

• If possible, schedule appointments outside instructional time.

• Absences must be excused by a parent within one day after the student's absence.

• Provide advance notice when a student needs to be checked out of school.  

• When checking your student out early, please have your ID available to present to the office staff.

• Contact our Attendance Office if you anticipate extended absences. Students may be withdrawn from school after missing 10 consecutive school days without parent contact. 

Mesa Public Schools policy states that every MPS student, regardless of age, must be present for 90% of a class period in order to be eligible to receive credit for the class.

Arizona Truancy Laws

For information related to school attendance, please refer to A.R.S. 15-802 or A.R.S. 15-803.