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    Attendance Policy for Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten

    Regular attendance is very important to student progress and development. The expectation for the Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten classes is at least 95% attendance. Students should be dropped off at school between 7:30 and 7:45. They should be picked up between 1:15 and 1:30. (Each school sets the hours for their 5 1/2 hour day in regards to start time and dismissal time.)

    Voluntary Pre-K Attendance Policy

    Your child's potential for growth and development is maximized through consistent participation in a high-quality environment. Establishing consistent attendance routines in pre-K and kindergarten will increase chances of success in all future school experiences and will decrease the chances that your child will drop out of high school. Our goal is to establish healthy school habits as soon as school is introduced. Therefore, it is very important that your child attends pre-k on a regular basis. With this in mind, Knox County Schools, in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Education, has adopted a pre-K attendance policy to go into effect August 7, 2017.

    Excused Absences:

    We understand that children may miss some days of participation due to illness. Absences due to illness will be considered an excused absence.

    The following are acceptable reasons for excused absences:

    • The child is hospitalized; 

    • The child is incapacitated due to a serious injury; 

    • The child contracts a communicable disease (virus or flu); 

    • The child has other ongoing health-related ailments which temporarily prevent attendance 
(such as asthma); 

    • There is a death in the family; 

    • Limited medical/dental/therapy appointments (these should be made outside of school hours unless absolutely necessary); and 

    • Other reasons as approved by the site-level administrator. 



    Required Procedures:

    1. Please communicate with your child's teacher when your child is absent. 

    2. A doctor's excuse is required after three (3) consecutive days of absence. 

    3. If you have questions or concerns about your child’s attendance, or if you anticipate an ongoing attendance issue, please contact your child’s teacher or Beth Lackey, Early Childhood Supervisor at 594-1529.

    4. If a child has four (4) or more consecutive absences—or four (4) or more absences within one (1) month—the site-level administrator will contact you to determine the child’s participation status. The site-level administrator will document attempts to contact you and the outcome of those attempts and/or communications. 

    5. If a child misses five (5) or more days in a three (3)-month period, the site-level administrator will contact the family to develop an attendance plan. 

    6. The attendance plan will be designed to help the family establish regular attendance or, if necessary, to plan for alternative services. The attendance plan will be developed by the family and appropriate school personnel, including, but not limited to: the child’s primary pre-k teacher; the site-level administrator; the IEP team (if applicable); and additional staff serving the school and family, which may include a counselor, social worker, family support personnel, teacher assistant or other school staff supporting the child and family. The plan must:
    7. Identify the reasons for the absences; 

    8. Include a specific plan and date for establishing regular attendance or alternative services that meet the child’s educational goals; and include documentation of services and student outcomes to determine the effectiveness of the attendance plan.
    9. Every effort will be made to ensure your child has access to a quality school program. However, VPK seats are limited and are made available through a state grant. A child, who has more than five (5) unexcused days per month, or ten (10) unexcused days in a year, maybe terminated from the program for failure to follow the attendance policy.
    10. Because the seats are limited, your child’s spot may be filled as soon as he/she is withdrawn. Future eligibility for the child to re-enter the program will depend upon vacancies after a 30-day waiting period and a parent conference to establish a faithful, binding Home/School Compact.