The document outlines the attendance and truancy protocol for the Walton County School District. It discusses (1) the requirement to have an Attendance Support Team at each school that meets weekly to address attendance concerns, (2) the process of notifying parents at the start of the school year and addressing truancy for students with 5 or more unexcused absences, and (3) the need to document all correspondence regarding attendance and truancy in the school's student information system, Infinite Campus.

1. WALTON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
ATTENDANCE/TRUANCY PROTOCOL
rev 6/12

2. IT’S THE LAW!
In accordance with O.C.G.A 20-2-690, an
attendance protocol committee was established
in 2005 by the Superior Court chief judge. A
written attendance protocol was created. This
protocol is the basis for WCSD attendance
procedures. Therefore, it is critical that the
procedures be followed. IT IS THE LAW.

3. Attendance Protocol Procedures
There are two main parts to the
attendance protocol: Parent Notification
and Addressing Truancy.
Let’s take a moment to explain the
requirements for each part.

4. Requirements for
Parent notification

5. Parent Notification
Parents/guardians must be notified of the law
and the consequences of truancy. This is done
at the beginning of the school year. There must
be 3 documented attempts. However, once
notification is made successfully, no further
attempts are required.

6. Parent Notification
Attempt 1 – Notification is supplied at the
beginning of the school year in the student
handouts. Signature pages shall be collected
and kept on file in the school office until the
end of the school year.

7. Parent Notification
Attempt 2 – If the signature page is not
returned, the school may make a phone call to
the parent/guardian, asking for the return of
the signature page, or the school may send a
note home with the student with this request.
This step should be documented.

8. Parent Notification
Attempt 3 – The school shall send a certified
letter-return receipt requested to the
parent/guardian. Signature on the return
receipt shall serve as the signature page and
filed as such.

9. Parent Notification
Please alert your school social worker if you are
unsuccessful in obtaining notification signatures
from any parents/guardians.

10. Addressing
truancy

11. Addressing Truancy
The Attendance Support Team (AST) at each
school will guide the truancy process. The AST
at each school shall be chaired by an
administrator and members may include the
following: school counselor, school attendance
representative, truancy officer/law enforcement
officer, Principal or designee and any other
designated professionals as deemed
appropriate by the Principal.

12. Addressing Truancy
The AST is directly responsible for reviewing all
cases of students with 5 or more unexcused
absences and all cases of students with 10 or
more total absences.

13. Addressing Truancy
The attendance protocol mandates that the
ASTs meet weekly to monitor and report
attendance concerns as needed.
Parents/guardians should be invited and
encouraged to attend these meetings. Use the
form called the Contact/Conference Sheet for
documentation and reporting. This form and all
truancy forms and letters may be found in
Infinite Campus (IC).

14. Addressing Truancy
After a child misses five (5) unexcused
absences, three (3) attempts must be made to
inform the parents/guardians of the absences
and consequences. Once contact has been
made with the parent, no further attempts are
required.

15. Addressing Truancy
The first two attempts must be made at the
school level. There are letters available in IC
that may be used, or phone calls may be made
as attempts. Phone calls should be
documented in IC as well.

16. Addressing Truancy
If contact CANNOT be made by phone, there is no
response from the letter(s) sent home, OR should
absences continue after the successful warning of five
(5) unexcused absences, the school shall send a copy
of the Contact/Conference Sheet to the school social
worker who will make the third contact attempt. The
social worker will make referrals to appropriate
agencies as needed. The AST will continue to monitor
and report concerns as deemed necessary.

17. Addressing Truancy
All letters needed by the AST for truancy are
located in IC. Any correspondence related to the
attendance protocol should be documented in
IC, including phone calls, office visits, home
visits, etc. Let’s walk through how to do this.

18. Using
Infinite
Campus

19. Using Infinite Campus
The correct location
for AST documentation
is found in the
“Attendance Notes”
section. See the red
arrows in this picture.

20. Using Infinite Campus
Once in Attendance Notes, you will notice that the
tabs on the right section have changed, as seen below.
Let’s look in the Documents tab first.

21. Using Infinite Campus
In Documents, you will see a list of documents
previously created as well as how to create new ones.
To create a new document, click on “New Document”.

22. Using Infinite Campus
Once here, check the box next to “Create a New
Simple Form”, then open the drop down menu for a
list of available letters/documents. Choose the
document you need, open it, add the info as
needed, then save and print.

23. Using Infinite Campus
In the section circled below, you can see the
documents previously created on a student as well as
the dates they were created.

24. Using Infinite Campus
Now let’s take a look at the “Contact Log” tab. This is
where documentation of all correspondence should
go.

25. Using Infinite Campus
For new entries, click on the “new” tab shown with
the red arrow below. All Contact Log entries will be
shown in the listing, which is circled in red below.

26. Overview
• All schools must have an
1 Attendance Support Team that
meets weekly.
• Parent notification at the beginning of
school, and address truancy of
2 students with 5 or more unexcused
absences.
• Document all correspondence in
3 Infinite Campus.

27. IF YOU HAVE ANY
QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT
STUDENT SERVICES.
THANK YOU!!!