Attendance Overview & Manual
Essential information & resources for school sites
Attendance Overview
Attendance supports exist across a range of levels and can look different from community to community.
In all cases though, a strong attendance support program is based on school-wide systems designed to increase partnership with students and families and eliminate racism as experienced in San Francisco Unified School District. A student's attendance can be impacted for many reasons including discipline and safety concerns.
The SFUSD Attendance Overview document contains essential information and resources to support attendance processes at your school site.
SFUSD Attendance Overview Document
This SFUSD Attendance Overview document contains essential information and resources to support attendance processes at your school site.
Attendance Manual
This SFUSD Attendance Manual contains information on the technical components and best practices of attendance taking practices at the school site. Use the table of contents linked below to find the specific information you need:
Everyone Working Together: Teachers + Attendance Clerk + Principal 1
Best Practices Attendance Taking Process: Teachers 2
Best Practices Attendance Taking Process: School Site Staff 3
Site Administrator Guidance: 3
Documentation Protocol for Reporting or Correcting Student Absences 4
Valid Attendance Codes in Synergy 4
State Education Code For Valid Excused Absences 4
Attendance Posting for Elementary 5
Posting Daily Attendance - No Absences or Tardies 6
Class Daily Attendance via Classroom Taken Attendance module 7
Daily Attendance - Auto-posting ParentVUE “Report Absence” Submissions 8
Important Information about Parent Submitted Attendance Records 11
Advanced Parent Submitted Attendance Record Processing 12
Viewing Existing Teacher-posted or School Site Staff-posted Attendance Record 12
Daily Attendance - Hand Posting 14
Instructions For Reporting Independent Study 16
Overview of Independent Study 16
Example of A Completed Independent Study Contract 17
Keeping Independent Study Agreements 19
Agreement to Retain in Kindergarten 19
Attendance Posting for Secondary 20
Period Attendance - Secondary 20
Period Attendance - Auto-posting ParentVUE “Report Absence” Submissions 23
Important Information about Parent Submitted Attendance Records 25
Hand Posting Attendance For Student 26
Method 1: Post a for a Student – Single Period 27
Method 2: Post attendance for a Student – Full Day 28
Method 3: Post attendance for a Student – Multiple Days 29
Period Attendance Gaps by Teacher (ATP407) 30
Instructions for Reporting Independent Student Attendance 32
Overview of Independent Study: 32
Example of A Completed Independent Study Contract 33
Attendance Procedure for Independent Study 35
Keeping Independent Study Agreements 35
Attendance Posting for Teachers/Substitute Teachers 35
Substitute Assignment Process for Clerks 35
Generating and Printing Reports 37
Classroom Taken Attendance Summary 39
Parent Submitted Attendance - Open Submissions Report (U-AT911) 40
Daily Attendance List (ATD402) 43
Daily Attendance Profile (ATD201) 44
Perfect Attendance List (ATD405) 46
Daily Student Absence Totals (ATD401) 48
Period Attendance List (ATP401) 50
Period Sections Missing Attendance (ATP602) 51
Period Student Attendance Profile (ATP201) 52
Scheduled Job: Automated Period Sections Missing Attendance (ATP602) 55
Best Practices
The success of attendance taking is a team effort. School site administration, teachers and staff all must work together to provide accurate and timely attendance recordings. In support of our students and families it is essential to be supportive, respectful, and build relationships to best support communication to the school when absences occur. The SFUSD Attendance Overview includes details of district best practices.
Teachers
- Teachers log into Synergy Student Information System through their password-protected login. Each teacher will take attendance via TeacherVue interface within Synergy. Each teacher must enter the attendance the first 30 minutes of the period. See the Attendance Manual for details about correcting attendance errors.
School Site Staff
- School site staff contacts teachers by phone or email to remind teachers that attendance must be posted within 30 minutes of the start of a class.
- School site staff will contact the home of all students who are absent either by a phone call to a parent/guardian and/or the auto dialer system. All original documentation (i.e., phone logs)are is maintained in the main office for audit purposes.
- School site staff will reach out to parents /caregivers directly to inquire about the reason(s) a student was absent. School site staff will engage respectfully when communicating with students/families.
Site Administration
- School site administrators support the school site staff when necessary to ensure requirements are met for attendance taking.
Documentation Filing Protocol
There are three methods of filing attendance documenation
- File By Date
- Documentation to be filed by date include excuse notes, tardy slips, phone logs and permits to leave
- File By Student Name
- Documentation to be filed by student name is independent study contract and sample work.
- File By Teacher Name
- Documentation to be filed by teacher name include Class Rosters, Period Attendance GAP and Reports By Teacher
Additional Resources:
Attendance Filing Protocol Document
Independent Study Contracts
The links to the Independent Study contract
Independent Study Contract - Elementary
Independent Study Contract - Secondary
This page was last updated on July 24, 2024