Attendance Overview & Manual

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:

SFUSD Attendance Overview 1

Everyone Working Together: Teachers + Attendance Clerk + Principal 1

Best Practices Attendance Taking Process: Teachers 1

Instructions 1

Best Practices Attendance Taking Process: School Site Staff 2

Daily Procedures: 2

Valid Attendance Codes in Synergy 3

State Education Code For Valid Excused Absences 3

Attendance Posting for Elementary 4

Class Daily Attendance 4

Posting Daily Attendance - No Absences or Tardies 5

Class Daily Attendance via Classroom Taken Attendance module 6

Daily Attendance 7

Adding notes to the Attendance posting Day 8

Instructions For Reporting Independent Study 9

Overview of Independent Study 9

Example of A Completed Independent Study Contract 9

Attendance Procedure for Independent Study 10

Keeping Independent Study Agreements 11

Agreement to Retain in Kindergarten 11

Attendance Posting for Secondary 12

Period Attendance - Secondary 12

Class Period Attendance 14

Method 3: Post attendance for a Student – Multiple Days 14

Period Attendance Gaps by Teacher (ATP407) 15

Instructions for Reporting Independent Student Attendance 17

Overview of Independent Study: 17

Example of A Completed Independent Study Contract 17

Attendance Procedure for Independent Study 21

Keeping Independent Study Agreements 22

Attendance Posting for Teachers/Substitute Teachers 22

Substitute Assignment Process for Clerks 22

Generating and Printing Reports 24

Class Roster (STU409) 24

Classroom Taken Attendance Summary 26

Daily Absent List (ATD403) 27

Daily Attendance List (ATD402) 29

Daily Attendance Profile (ATD201) 30

Method 1 30

Method 2 31

Perfect Attendance List (ATD405) 32

Daily Student Absence Totals (ATD401) 34

Period Attendance List (ATP401) 36

Period Sections Missing Attendance (ATP602) 37

Period Student Attendance Profile (ATP201) 38

Scheduled Job: Automated Period Sections Missing Attendance (ATP602) 41

Job Queue Viewer 43

Deleting a Scheduled Job

 

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

This page was last updated on September 16, 2023