Burrville Elementary School

At Burrville Elementary, school begins promptly at 8:45 a.m. To review the entire policy of DCPS requirements on attendance, view DCPS Attendance and Truancy Policy.

General Attendance Requirements

All children who reach five (5) years of age on or before September 30th of the current school year are considered school-aged and must attend school on time every day until they meet hight school graduation requirements or reach their 18th birthday.

What are excused absences?

Excused absences are when school-aged students are absent from school with a valid excuse and parental approval. Examples of excused absences include:

• Student illness (a doctor’s note is required for a student absent five or more days in a term);
• Illness of a child for parenting students (a doctor’s note is required for a student absent five or more days in a term);
• Medical or dental appointments for the student;
• Death in the student’s immediate family;
• Exclusion by direction of the authorities of the District of Columbia, due to quarantine contagious disease, infection, infestation, or other condition requiring separation from other students for medical or health reasons;
• Necessity for a student to attend a judicial proceeding, or court activity, as a party to the action or under subpoena;
• Observance of a religious holiday;
• Absences to allow students to visit their parent or legal guardian, who is in the military; immediately before, during or after deployment;
• Emergency or other circumstances approved by DCPS.

The following absences may also be excused without written documentation from the parent, as verified by the school:

• Lawful out of school suspension or exclusion by school authorities;
• Temporary closing of facilities or suspension of classes due to severe weather, official activities, holidays, malfunctioning equipment, unsafe or unsanitary conditions, or other condition(s) or emergency requiring a school closing or suspension of classes;
• Failure of the District of Columbia to provide transportation in cases where the District of Columbia has legal responsibility for the transportation of the student; and
• An emergency or other circumstance approved by DCPS.

If a student is absent for a total of up to four (4) cumulative days in each grading period, a parent's written excuse is sufficient for explaining the absence.

If a student is absent for five (5) or more cumulative days per term, further documentation is required beyond communication by the parent for the absence to be excused. Written explanation of the student's absence must be submitted by a doctor or staff of a relevant agency, on official doctor's office/agency letterhead and signed by a relevant official.

Tardiness 

Students who are absent or late to school must have a note explaining the reason.

Unexcused Tardies: Students who arrive late (AFTER 9:00 am) to school without a valid excuse will be subject to the following disciplinary actions:

• 2nd offense - Recorded; no penalty – verbal warning
• 3rd offense: Parent Letter
• 5th offense: Referral to the Social Worker
• 7 or more offenses: Parent Meeting Students’ tardy offenses begin accumulating with each new month.

Students are expected to be in class 3 minutes after the arrival time.

The uniform policy, for all students, is as follows:

• Top: White, Red, or Black
• Bottoms: Khaki or Black

Violation of the uniform policy is located in the DCPS Code of Student Discipline. The following consequences will be followed in violation of the code:

• Parents will be called when student is not compliant and asked to bring appropriate clothing to school.
• If parent cannot be reached within the first 30 minutes of school, student may be issued clothing from the uniform bank with directions to return it by the end of the day.
• A fourth offense will result in student reporting to Achievers Academy, at the discretion of the principal. Parents will be notified in writing if there are special circumstances that children are not required to wear uniforms.