Attendance

School Hours

Normal hours: 8:45 am - 3:15 pm

Early Release: 8:45 am - 12:30 pm

Gates open at 8:30 am. Children must be dropped off after 8:30 am and cannot be dropped off at the office prior to that time as supervision is not available.

Students arriving after 8:45 am must be signed in at the office. If your student will be late due to an appointment please call the attendance line – (602) 449-7101 – to report his/her tardiness in advance.

Students are to be picked up promptly at the end of the school day.

Please discuss with your child before he or she arrives at school how he/she will be going home at the end of the day. This helps avoid a call into the classroom that disrupts valuable teaching time. We understand that emergencies happen and will do our best to relay a message to your child if necessary.

Absences

If your child is ill or missing school for any reason, be sure to call our 24-hour attendance line at (602) 449-7101 any time before 9:00 am the morning of the absence. Notifying the teacher of absences does not excuse the absences. Any absence not called into the front office will be considered a truancy. When calling in an absence, please state the student's name, teacher, grade, and reason for the absence. If your student is ill, please describe their symptoms, including their temperature. If your child has complaints of any COVID-19 symptoms, they must remain home from school or will be sent home from school for 10 days from the onset of the symptoms. If the symptoms have improved after 10 days and they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication, they may return to school.

Homework, if requested on the attendance line before 9:00 am, may be picked up in the school office after 3:15 pm on the same day. Students will be given time to make up work when they return from their absence and this will be coordinated by the teacher and student.

Under district attendance and excuse policy, it is the parent/guardian's responsibility to notify the school of an absence. We urge you to call the school attendance line as soon as you are aware of any absences. Desert Springs has a 24-hour voice mail attendance line for reporting absences. Please remember that any student whose absences (excused OR unexcused) totals more than 10 percent, or 18 days, of the school year and whose absences have affected academic progress may be retained due to the negative effect on the grade and may be cited and reported to the courts (A.R.S. 15-802; A.R.S. 15-803).