Attendance Office

Attendance Office

908-647-4800 ext. 4831

Absences:

Reporting an absence:

All absences must be called in or input through parent access, regardless of whomever else you have informed.
- Report an absence via Parent Access, go to Attendance Tab --> Notify Attendance Office
- You may also call 908-647-4800 ext. 4831. Please provide the date of the absence, student’s name, and student ID number, if available.
- Assignments are posted on Google Classroom while students are absent.
- All absences will be considered without reason until documentation is provided.

Absences with Reason:

If the student goes to a physician, please obtain a physician’s note stating the student’s name and date of absence. The physician's note can be dropped off in person to the Attendance Office upon returning to school or emailed to whrhsattendance@whrhs.org and the absence will be adjusted to an absence with reason. Without the physician’s note, the absence will remain an absence without reason. All notes must be received within two weeks of the absence for the absence to be categorized as an absence with reason. Notes written by parents stating that their child was sick or went to the physician’s office are not considered an absence with reason.
Please notify the Attendance Office if the student has a driving test.

Please notify the Attendance Office and student’s guidance counselor if the student is absent from school due to attending a funeral.

College visits are considered a state excused absence and do not count toward absent total only if we receive a note on college letterhead, stating that the student visited on a specific day. An invitation to visit or correspondence from the school is not acceptable for the absence to be considered excused. College visits are limited up to three days per school year for students in grades 11 and 12.

The student must sign in at the tardy table or with attendance in the main office when tardy or returning to school.

If a student forgets to sign in, their previous classes will be recorded as an unverified absence and will result in being marked as cutting class.

All tardies are considered without reason unless the student has a physician’s note.

Please send in a written note with the student’s name and ID number, time of dismissal, and parent cell or work number.

Driving permission – Although you have provided written permission for your child to leave school and drive, we must always obtain verbal permission from a parent. Parents must call the Attendance Office to grant permission for their child to drive themselves home if they are leaving school early, even if they are eighteen years of age.

Parents must come into the Attendance Office and sign out the student if he/she is not driving. Students may not sign out and meet their parents in the parking lot.

If a student is returning to school after a physician’s appointment, they must sign into the Attendance Office. The student may reenter the school unaccompanied.

Please note that we are unable to call students out of class from 1:50 pm – 2:15 pm if an early dismissal was not pre-arranged.
Parents will not have access to the parking lots between 2:00 pm and 2:30 pm due to bus traffic.

If a student is ill while in school, they must go to the nurse’s office. If the student needs to go home, a parent or guardian is required to sign the student out of school or give permission for the student to drive home. In both cases, students are signed out through the nurse’s office.

If a student is sent home from the nurse and they return to school, they must go directly to the nurse’s office before attending class.

Home Instruction:

A parent’s request for home instruction shall include a written determination from the student’s physician documenting the projected need for confinement at the student’s residence or other treatment setting for more than ten consecutive school days or twenty cumulative school days during the school year. The written determination from the student’s physician shall be forwarded to the school physician, who shall either verify the need for home instruction or provide reasons for denial. The parent shall be notified concerning the school physician’s verification or reasons for denial within five school days after receipt of the written determination by the student’s physician.

The school must be in possession of a physician’s note stating the reason and specific length of time for home instruction. If the student is still receiving home instruction after the initially approved time from the district's school physician, a new note must be provided by the student's physician. (Refer to Student/Parent Handbook-Home Instruction tab)

Automated Calls

If the student is late to school or missed second time slot, our computer system generates an automated call. We cannot control or stop the call from going out even if you called us about the student’s attendance.

If a student is absent and you forgot to call, please call us so we can verify the absence.