Attendance Policy

High expectations are the backbone of school districts that have high graduation rates. To this end, each semester, we expect every student to have 100% attendance in every class, every school day and no tardies.

Absences
There may be an occasion with a valid/legitimate parent excuse that a student can be excused from school. In the event a student will be absent, the parents are expected to call the school before 8:00 am or send a written note with the student when they return to school. Students will have the right to make-up homework for excused absences for full credit within five school days of their return to school. Extenuating circumstances will be dealt with on a case by case basis. Legitimate excuses are:

1. Illness
2. Medical/dental appointment
3. Court Date
4. Bereavement for a close family relative
5. Pre-arranged absence

All other absence will be considered unexcused. Extenuating circumstances will be dealt with on a case by case basis. If a student "sluffs" no assignments/homework will be allowed to be made up. All absences need to be excused within three days after returning back to school.

After School Hours
All students must be out of building and off campus by 3:00 pm unless under the supervision of a teacher, coach, or advisor.

Attendance on Activity and Game Days
Students who participate in any after school activities must attend all scheduled classes on the day of the activity or game. There may be extenuating circumstances that may arise which may cause the student not to be present in some or all classes for the day. It is the responsibility of the student to contact their designated secretary so they are excused for those classes. Truancies may result in the students missing the next activity or game.

Check-out/Check-in Policy
Students must check out through the attendance secretary whenever they leave school. A parental contact via a note, phone call or in person must be made before the student leaves. When a student is returning back to school they must check in with the secretary. Any student who fails to check out of school missing their scheduled classes will be considered unexcused/truant.

Make-up Policy
* Class work or tests missed because of an excused absence or a school activity must be promptly made up. The work must be completed within 5 school days. If it is made up within this time, full credit will be given.
* It is the responsibility of each student to make contact with their individual teachers to arrange for his/her own make-up work when absent, whether it is due to illness, suspension, vacation or other school parental excused activities.
* To arrange for make-up work, a student and/or parent may contact the secretary to excuse the absence(s), then talk with each individual teacher directly, get the work beforehand, or pick up the homework when he/she returns to school.
* When a student's absence is unexcused, the school is under no obligation to provide for make-up work or examinations.

Pre-Arranged Absence
* Any student who is leaving out of town will need to have prior administrator approval.
* Before the absence, students must obtain and return to their designated secretary a "Pre-Arranged Request" form signed by each teacher and parent/guardian.

Parent Notification of Absences
BLHS uses the district school messenger system to notify parents of student absenteeism. These calls occur during the evening and are strictly for absences, not tardies. If parents are not aware of their students absences or tardies they may call the attendance secretary for more information or check online.

Suspensions
* Suspensions do count as an excused absence.
* Students will be allowed to make up assignments/homework/quizzes/tests missed while suspended to be completed within 5 school days of returning to school for full credit.
* Work turned in after 5 school days may incur an additional penalty to be determined by the teacher.

Tardy
A tardy is given when a student is not present in the assigned classroom by the end of the bell. 

Truancies
Truancy is considered an unexcused absence and will result in afterschool detention.

Parents may access their student's attendance records via internet on Infinite Campus. 

A parent or guardian may request instructional materials for a student if an accident or illness necessitates more than three consecutive days of absence. Homework requests for more than three days absence may require a doctor's note. In cases of long-term illness, a request should be made to the administration for Home and Hospital instructions. Requests need to be made with your secretary.
Patricia Zahos-Roybal 801-737-7906.

Attendance-December

Citizenship Policy

The purpose of having citizenship policy is to improve behavior and attendance at school and school sponsored activities.

Citizenship Policy Determination
The citizenship grade will be determined by a student's behavior and attendance for each class. Non class related behavior issues will affect a student's citizenship grade in advisory.

Citizenship Grades
Honors (H) = No behavior issues or 1 absence per quarter.
Satisfactory (S) = No more than two documented Level I or Level II offenses or 2-3 absences per quarter.
Needs Improvement (N) = No more than three documented Level I or Level II offense or 1 documented level III offense or 4 absences per quarter.
Unsatisfactory (U) = 4 or more documented Level I or Level II offenses, more than 1 documented Level III offense, or 1 or more documented Level IV or Level V offense or 5 or more absences per quarter.

Extenuating circumstances will be considered on a case by case basis.
Citizenship Credit Make-up:
* Once a "U" has been posted, student will be required to make-up the grade. The make-up option selected must be completed by the end of the next grading period.
* See Mrs. O'Grady in the counseling office for information on how to make up "U"s.
** If not completed by the end of the next grading period it will automatically become a fine of $20 per "U".
** Seniors must have all "U" grades taken care of prior to being cleared for graduation.
** 4th quarter make-up must be completed by the last day of school.

Potential Make-up Opportunities:
* Perfect attendance for the first grading period.
* Pay a monetary value for each "U" given - $20 for each "U" earned.
* Work with a teacher on a service project approved by teacher and administrator.
* Youth Court for 1st time / non-chronic offenders.
* Pre-approved community service - 2 hours for each "U" earned.
* Attend After School Tutoring/PM School or On-Track for a determined period of time.

Once a "U" is cleared it will become an "N" on the report card.

Credit Recovery Program
ON TRACK

ON TRACK is designed to assist students who have failed to pass a class at Ben Lomond High School. When a student fails a class, they have not earned the .25 credit towards obtaining their diploma. In order to immediately help students who have failed, BLHS will be instituting a special intervention called ON TRACK. The goal of ON TRACK will be to immediately have students make up the failing grade so they can receive credit for that class.

Listed below are the guidelines of the ON TRACK program:
* Once a student has failed a class, there is a fee of $20 changed to that student for make-up credit.
* Priority for ON TRACK classes will be given to those classes specifically required for graduation. Language Arts classes are most critical to recover because students are required to have four years of Language Arts classes in order to graduate.
* The default material for credit remediation will be Granite School District recovery packets. A teacher has the right to substitute work in their class to remedy the grade.
* In order for students to receive credit, they need to demonstrate an acceptable level of proficiency either by passing assessments at 80% accuracy, or through completion of modules/projects and review by overseeing teacher.
* Students have 4-weeks to complete the packet and demonstrate proficiency for each packet or they will need to re-pay for the recovery credit. This is designed to help students work on recovering the credit in a timely manner.
* Packets stay with the assigned teacher, and are NOT allowed to be taken home for completion.
* If students need additional time beyond the 3-week period allotted during the first of the quarter, then they will be assigned to PM school to complete the packet.
* A student's transcript will still have the failing grade recorded for the class they did not pass. Once they have successfully completed ON TRACK for the failed class, a second entry will be made in the transcript with the course title and the passing grade which is indicated by a P.
* Administration reserves the right to work with individual students on a case by case basis.

Grade Change Policy

Report cards are issued four times each year, They are issued to enable the home and the student to be informed of the student's progress.

The following terms are used in describing grades.
A Superior quality of work
B Above average work
C Average work
D Passing but poor quality
F Failure (no credit given)
NG Student has a passing grade, but it will not be given until attendance issues have been resolved by making up detentions or cleared by an administrator within two weeks from the end of the semester.
I Incomplete (can change to passing grade if made up within two weeks from the end of the semester, unless falling under university concurrent enrollment classification)
(Typically teachers do not give I grades for the 4th quarter.)

Extenuating circumstances will be handled on a case by case basis.

Once a teacher assigns a grade to a student, that grade can only be changed by the teacher giving the grade. An administrator does not recommend or become involved with grade changes in any way. He or She will direct inquires to the teacher giving the grade.

An "incomplete" or "I" grade may (1) be requested by the student if illness or other extenuating circumstance arise which will prevent him/her from completing the required course work or (2) be given in a performance-based class by the instructor if the student has not yet demonstrated mastery. The "I" grade may be given for purpose of remediation only, not for postponement or evasion of a failing grade. Regardless of reason, students who retake a class should understand that the previous grade received for the class retaken remains on their transcript and is unaffected by the new grade in the class retaken.