Attendance
IMPORTANT ABSENCE INFORMATION
In December 2016, the Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill 410. This bill is intended to define and prevent excessive absenteeism (including late arrivals and early dismissals) and to outline procedures schools must take to track and intervene when attendance issues arise.
The most important thing for you to understand is that schools are now required to track student attendance in terms of hours instead of days. When a student is absent between 8:50 and 3:15, those minutes will accumulate into hours eventually reaching one of two levels of absenteeism: Habitual Truancy or Excessive Absenteeism.
Habitual Truancy is defined as:
- Absent 30 or more consecutive
hours without a legitimate excuse
- Absent 42 or more hours in one school month
without a legitimate excuse
- Absent 72 or more hours in one school year
without a legitimate excuse
Excessive Absence is defined as:
- Absent 38 or more hours in one school month
with or without a legitimate excuse
- Absent 65 or more hours in one school year
with or without a legitimate excuse
According to the Ohio Revised Code, legitimate excuses can include:
- Personal illness
- Death of a relative
- Illness in the family
- Quarantine of the home
- Medical/dental appointments
- Pre-approved absences
- Observance of a religious holiday
- Medical leave ordered by a doctor
- Emergency
Additional Attendance Resources
- Attendance Works
- House Bill 410
Ohio Department of Education document on absence and tardiness.
Please note that the total hours of absences, whether legitimate or not will accumulate and trigger contact from the school regarding either Habitual Truancy or Excessive Absenteeism when the limits stated above are met. An intervention team, including parents, must then work to create and implement an absence intervention plan to improve attendance and avoid a possible referral to the juvenile court system.
Click Ohio Department of Education Absence reference.
ABSENT
If your student must be absent, call (740) 928-8330 or 928-8340 to report the absence and provide a note on the day the student returns. If no call or note is received, the absence will be considered unexcused. Acceptable reasons for excused absences are provided in our Handbook.
TARDY
Students check in at the office anytime they enter school after 7:25am.
LEAVING EARLY
Parents must sign a student out in the office if they are leaving school early. Students should turn in early dismissal notes to the school secretary prior to reporting to their 1st period class.
DROPPING OFF
Parents may drop students off starting at 7:15am. Enter using the east entrance and pull up on the east end of the building to drop off your student(s). If dropping off before 7:15, utilize the east entrance and travel to the back parking lot next to the athletic building to wait. Once bus traffic has cleared, students may use the sidewalk from the athletic parking lot to the auditorium doors. Please exit the drive closest to the football field that takes you to Lancer Rd.
PICKING UP
Parents who pick up children at dismissal time should enter the most convenient entrance. Travel through the parking lot and wait in the back parking lot next to the athletic building. No car traffic is permitted in front of the Middle School between 2:15 and 2:35.
VISITING
Enter the vestibule and ring the bell at the main entrance to connect with the office.
For complete details on our policies and procedures, review the LMS Handbook 2023-2024.