Attendance Information

You can find answers to questions you may have regarding your child's attendance here. Please feel free to call our school office for any questions at 864-452-1203

A parent/guardian must fill out this form within 3 school days of the absence for ALL absences or it will remain unexcused.  

Submit This Form For Your Child's Absence.

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In South Carolina, all children are required to attend a public or private school or kindergarten beginning at age five (5) and continuing until their 17th birthday. If a child is not six years of age on or before the first day of September in a particular school year, parents and guardians may choose not to send their children to kindergarten; however, they must sign a waiver which may be obtained at the local school.

In accordance with the South Carolina Compulsory School Attendance law, the School District of Greenville County has adopted uniform rules to ensure that students attend school regularly. Each day that students are not in school, they miss hours of valuable instruction and opportunities for learning that they will not have again. Students are counted present only when they are actually in school, on homebound instruction, or are present at an activity authorized by the school principal. A student is considered in attendance when present for at least three (3) hours of a school day.

Any student who misses school must present a written excuse, signed by his or her parent or legal guardian or a health care professional, for all absences within three (3) days of the student’s return to school. The written excuse should include the reason for and the date of absence. If a student fails to bring a valid written excuse to school, his or her absence will be recorded as unlawful. School will use the criteria below when deciding whether an absence is lawful or unlawful.

The SC truancy policy states that at 3 consecutive or 5 total unexcused/unlawful absences the student is considered Truant 1.  Parents must provide medical notes for any absence beginning with the 11th absence. If your child has more than 10 absences and any of the absences over 10 are unexcused, an Attendance Intervention Conference must be held.  Your child is considered Truant 2 which possibly could involve the district’s attendance intervention specialist. 

Parents have the legal responsibility of sending their children to school.  Students are counted present only when they are actually in school, on homebound instruction, or are present at an activity authorized by the school principal.  A student may not have more than 10 unexcused absences during the school year.  Any absence over 10 may cause the student to lose credit for the year.  Examples of lawful absences are listed below.

• Absences caused by a student’s illness and whose attendance in school would endanger his or her health or the health of others. These absences must be verified by a physician statement within three (3) days of the student’s return to school.
• Absences due to an illness or death in the student’s immediate family verified by a statement from the parent within three (3) days of the student’s return to school.
• Absences due to a recognized religious holiday of the student’s faith when approved in advance. Such requests must be made to the principal in writing.
• Absences for students whose parents/guardians are experiencing a military deployment. Specifically absences when the parent or legal guardian of a student is an active duty member of the uniformed services and has been called to duty for, is on leave from, or immediately returned from deployment to a combat zone or combat support posting, shall be excused as long as such absences are reasonable in duration as deemed by the principal so that the student can visit with his or her parent or legal guardian relative to such leave or deployment of the parent or legal guardian.
• Absences due to activities that are approved in advance by the principal. This would include absences for extreme hardships. Such approval should be prearranged when possible.

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