Attendance & Withdrawal

Attendance

As a public charter school, Georgia Cyber Academy is required to monitor student attendance in accordance with all applicable statutes and State Board of Education rules. Georgia Cyber Academy’s Student Attendance Committee monitors student attendance. All Georgia Cyber Academy students must be legal residents of the state of Georgia and provide proof of residence at the time of enrollment, re-enrollment, and at any time during the school year if a change in residence occurs.

• Students are required to follow the school calendar, which includes one hundred eighty (180) school days.
• All students must log in to the GCA Online School (GOLS) via Canvas every day.
• All students must log into Google, Clever, and Canvas.
• Six (6) unexcused absences from required class sessions equals one (1) unexcused day of school.
• Students are considered present for class if they attend the entire session.
• Time spent in class will automatically be logged in Nucleus.
• If a student’s Nucleus attendance records are less than half of the required hours for their grade band, they will be counted absent for that day.
• Homeroom attendance is required daily for all students.
• Per SBOE Rule 160-5-1-.02, the minimum number of hours required per school day are as follows:
  • Kindergarten – 3^rd Grade 4.5 hours per day
  • 4^th – 5^th Grade 5.0 hours per day
  • 6^th – 12^th Grade 5.5 hours per day
• Dual Enrollment students (full time and part time):
  • are excluded from minimum instructional hours listed below; however, they are not excluded from the minimum instructional days
  • are required to attend homeroom live or watch the recording within two school days
  • are required to log into Canvas and check their inbox on every GCA school calendar day
  • are required to check their student Gmail inbox on every GCA school calendar day
  • are required to log attendance in Nucleus on every GCA school calendar day
  • fifth year seniors are excluded from the minimum instructional hours listed above; however, they are not excluded from the minimum instructional days

Truancy

A student is considered truant after accruing five (5) consecutive or non-consecutive unexcused absences. The truancy process continues throughout the school year. Truancy includes not attending school (as identified above), not attending required classes, and/or not having attendance logged in Nucleus. Once a student has been determined truant, a Student Attendance Committee (SAC) Coordinator will notify the legal guardian of a required SAC Meeting with an Attendance Officer. In addition to being determined truant, a student with ten (10) unexcused absences may be withdrawn from Georgia Cyber Academy due to non- attendance. Once a student is withdrawn from Georgia Cyber Academy, the parent/guardian will be notified via email. The local school district is also notified of the withdrawal, and it is reported to the local juvenile court for monitoring to ensure that the student has transferred their attendance to their local districted school, a private school, or to a homeschooling status. Truancy is based on SBOE Rule 160-5-1-.02 that is specific to a student’s attendance during the school day.

IMPORTANT: By law, if a student withdraws or is withdrawn and no proof of transfer to another school (out of state, public, private, charter, etc.) or homeschool declaration is received within forty-five (45) days of withdrawal, then the student will be referred to DFCS (Department of Family and Children’s Services). Proof of registration at another school or a homeschool declaration must be sent to statereporting@georgiacyber.org prior to forty-five (45) days to avoid referral to DFCS.

Unexcused Absences

When students are absent for reasons other than those outlined in the Excused Absences section of the handbook, those absences are recorded as unexcused absences. In addition, if documentation is not submitted to the Attendance Specialist via Nucleus within three (3) school days of the student’s return to school, regardless of the reason, the absence remains unexcused.

Excused Absences

For an unexcused absence to be registered as excused, a legal guardian, or in specific cases a learning coach, must upload an excusal to Nucleus explaining the absence within three (3) school days of the student’s return to school. The Attendance Specialist may excuse a student’s absence from school for the following reasons (with appropriate documentation, as determined by the school district):

• Student illness or quarantine
  • Three (3) or more consecutive absences due to illness requires a doctor's note.  Anything beyond five (5) non-consecutive days of illness requires a doctor's note.
• Student’s Medical or Dental services/care/visits/check-ups
  • Services/care/visits/check-ups/quarantine for student’s family members are not excused. Three (3) or more consecutive absences due to student illness requires a doctor's note.  Anything beyond five (5) non-consecutive days of illness requires a doctor's note.
• Counseling and/or Related Service Sessions.
  • These should be scheduled outside of live core content classes where possible. If it is not possible, please reach out to your Attendance Specialist for information on the required documentation to submit.
• A serious illness or death in a student’s immediate family
  • A maximum of three (3) consecutive days is allowed for bereavement leave. An ongoing illness of a family member does not warrant continued excused absences for the family. After three (3) or more absences due to a family member's illness, documentation from the provider that specifically states that the student is unable to complete virtual classes and schoolwork will be needed in order for the absences to be excused.
• A court order or an order by a governmental agency (regarding the student), including pre-induction physical examinations for service in the armed forces, mandating absence from school.
• Religious holidays*.
• Educational travel - {five (5) day advance request notice required– not guaranteed approval}. Educational travel is defined as school sponsored trips, school sponsored activities, academic competitions, etc. These must be approved by the School Accountability Director unless it has been arranged or sanctioned by Georgia Cyber Academy. Note: Trips should not be booked or scheduled until after approval is given to avoid monetary losses if the trip is denied. All travel requests scheduled during Interim Assessments, NWEA MAP assessments, final exams, high stakes testing, or state mandated testing periods will be denied. Cruises, train excursions, camping trips, family vacations, extended school holidays, etc. will be denied regardless of cited potential educational value. 
• A student whose legal guardian or parent has been called to duty for military service in the armed forces of the United States or the National Guard, or is on leave from overseas deployment to a combat zone or combat supporting posting, shall be granted excused absences, up to a maximum of five (5) school days per school year, for the day or days missed from school to visit with his or her parent or legal guardian prior to such parent’s or legal guardian’s deployment or during such parent’s or legal guardian’s leave.
• Internet and Technology Issues are limited to three days per school year. After three excused internet/technology issues, the family must provide documentation from the service provider regarding dates of the outage or the ticket number from customer support. If proper documentation is not submitted, this will be an unexcused absence. 

*Trips or activities that have a religious purpose ARE NOT religious holidays and ARE NOT excused if they can be taken at any time during an individual’s lifetime or are an optional activity not required to be religiously observant per a person’s cited faith on a given day. Religious holidays that extend for a period of more than one day must specifically preclude all work and activities on a given day during school hours for a student to be considered excused for that day. Travel days to another location to observe a religious holiday are not excused if the religious holiday can be observed where an individual resides.

School Accountability Director Prior Approval Special Circumstances

Educational leave- to prevent unexcused absences, families who wish to take educational leave must request permission from the School Accountability Director to be excused via e-mail at least five (5) days prior to departure. Educational leave is defined as school sponsored trips, school sponsored activities, academic competitions, etc. A request does not automatically make the absence excused. The School Accountability Director must give approval for absences of leave that are not due to cases of illness, injury, health care services, quarantine, death, or illness of immediate family member, to visit with deployed military parent/legal guardian, court order, school sponsored event, or religious holiday*. If the School Accountability Director approves the travel, the Learning Coach is responsible for making arrangements with teachers to complete work missed during any absence. Written approval from the School Accountability Director must be submitted in Nucleus within the required timeframe. Note: Trips should not be booked or scheduled until after School Accountability Director approval is given to avoid monetary losses if the trip is denied. All travel requests scheduled during Interim Assessments, NWEA MAP assessments, final exams, high stakes testing, or state mandated testing periods will be denied. Cruises, train excursions, camping trips, family vacations, extended school holidays, camps, etc. will be denied regardless of cited potential educational value. New students will not be granted approvals for at least the 1^st semester, regardless of their proficiency level and school standing. Students should be in good standing and performing on-grade level to be granted requests to miss classes.

Swapping school breaks- to prevent unexcused absences, families who wish to swap school breaks (with local school calendar, etc.) must request permission from the School Accountability Director to be excused via e-mail at least five (5) days prior to the days being requested. These requests are typically denied as it is difficult, if not impossible, to replicate live classes when the whole school is on break. However, in certain instances this can be done for students that have earned full flexibility and there is a valid reason that will not result in impeding a student’s successful academic progression and does not interfere with testing/exam/assessment/diagnostic administration windows. If the School Accountability Director approves the switch, the Learning Coach is responsible for making arrangements with teachers to complete work missed during any absence. Written approval from the School Accountability Director must be submitted in Nucleus within the required timeframe.

Legal guardians wishing to withdraw their student from GCA should contact their Family Engagement Liaison and complete a DocuSign form requesting the withdrawal. When submitting the DocuSign, a copy of the withdrawal record will be automatically delivered to the email address provided. Please keep a copy for your records.  GCA equipment will provide information via email regarding the return of equipment that has been loaned to the student. Equipment return assistance can also be requested via the Student and Family Help Center.  If you have questions about your student's attendance, please contact your Attendance Specialist.

IMPORTANT: By law, if a student withdraws or is withdrawn and no proof of transfer to school (out of state, public, private, charter, etc.) or homeschool declaration is received within forty-five (45) days of withdrawal, then the student will be referred to DFCS (Department of Family and Children’s Services). Proof of registration at another school or a homeschool declaration must be sent to csimmons@georgiacyber.org (K-8) or cgermain@georgiacyber.org (9-12) prior to forty-five (45) days to avoid referral to DFCS.