Notify Floris ES of an Absence, Late Arrival, or Early Release 

• Parents are required to contact the school office each morning when their child is absent or tardy. Please report absences, late arrivals, and early releases using our online attendance form or by calling our 24/7 attendance line at 703-561-2929 and state and spell your child’s name, along with his/her teacher’s name and the reason for the absence/tardy. The answering machine will take your message 24 hours a day.  When arriving late, students must then check in directly to the office with a parent.  
• We will communicate quickly with parents or guardians when a student does not come to school as expected. 

Virginia State Law

• Virginia State law requires that each student who is absent from school must be reported each time by a responsible person. An excused absence is one for which parents/guardians have prior knowledge, consent, and a legitimate reason. Legitimate reasons include: illness of the student, death in the family, and observance of a religious holiday. Absences for family and student vacations are unexcused. According to School Board Regulation 2234, after the fifth unexcused absence, the school is to refer the student to the attendance officer.

Late Arrival 

• Late arrival students arriving at school late must first report to the office for correction of attendance records. Car riders arriving late should be accompanied into the office by a parent/guardian. The bell rings at 9:15 a.m. Teachers begin the instructional day at 9:15 a.m. Students who arrive in their classroom after 9:15 a.m. will be marked late. Students who are repeatedly arrive late in a school year will have a letter placed in their school file. If the student continues to arrive late a meeting with the principal, counselor, student, and parent will be held to discuss the situation.

Early Release

• If a student needs to leave school during the day for a doctor’s appointment, etc., please notify the school by using our online attendance form or by calling our 24/7 attendance line at 703-561-2929. If a child will be dismissed from school early, s/he needs to be checked out at least 30 minutes prior to dismissal time (no later than 3:30 p.m.). Please note that requests for early release must be submitted by 2:00 p.m..  After 2:00 p.m., you must call the school. We will not release a student to anyone except the parent/guardian unless the notification sent in by the parent indicates who will be picking-up and they must be on the student’s Emergency Care Form. The person picking-up must present a valid ID when arriving at the school. Warn children never to ride home after school with any stranger who may claim he/she was sent by the parent.  If you wish to arrange for another person to take care of your child in the event illness occurs when you are not home, please add their name to the Emergency Care Form.

Unexcused Absences

• Absences for family and student vacations are unexcused. Students are responsible for completing any missed assignments. Teachers will provide the student and parent or guardian with missed work, but are not obligated to provide assignments prior to family or student vacations.

• Extended Absences - We believe that good attendance is vital to a student’s achievement and DO NOT recommend that parents remove students from school for an extended period of time. While we recognize the value of travel, we feel that our school calendar provides opportunities for these activities, and that absence beyond the time allotted in the calendar may be detrimental to the student.   Please do not request homework in advance. Your child will have days in which to make up the missed work upon return to school. During extended absences (5 or more school days) students are asked to maintain a writing journal and to read daily.  Parent must complete the Extended Absence form that is in the main office and return it to your child’s teacher.