It is the policy of the Board to excuse students from school for the following reasons:

1.       Personal illness or attendance in school that endangers a student's health or the health of others.

2.       A serious illness or death in a student's immediate family necessitating absence from school.

3.       A court order or an order by a governmental agency, including pre-induction physical examinations for service in the armed forces, mandating absence from school.

4.       The observance of religious holidays, necessitating absence from school.

5.       Conditions rendering attendance impossible or hazardous to student health or safety.

6.       A scheduled medical, dental or eye examination of the student.

7.       Registering to vote or voting.

8.       Visiting with a parent or legal guardian who is in the military service in the armed forces and has been called to duty for or is on leave from overseas deployment to a combat zone or combat support post.  The student may be excused for a maximum of 5 days per school year.

Students shall be counted present when they are serving as a page in the Georgia General Assembly.

With proper medication verification, a student may be eligible for hospital / homebound instruction as outlined in State Board of Education rule 160-4-2.31 hospital / homebound instruction.  A student receiving hospital homebound services will be considered present.

The student's parent or guardian shall submit to the principal or principal's designee a written notice stating the specific date(s) and reason(s) for a student's absence from school.  The notice must be signed by the parent or guardian and must be presented to the principal or principal's designee within five (5) school days of the absence to be considered for excused.  An absence for which a written notice is not received from the student's parent or guardian, or is received after the five-day time limit, will be considered an unexcused absence.

The principal may require students to present appropriate medical or other documentation upon return to school for the purpose of validating that absences are excused.