Regular attendance is essential to a student’s success in school. When a student is ill, parents are asked to email attendance@nativity-cincinnati.org and copy the student’s homeroom teacher before 9:00 a.m. If the office does not receive an email, you will be called in the interest of your child’s safety. Please be advised that attendance is reported to the Ohio Board of Education and multiple absences may put eligibility for the EdChoice Scholarship in jeopardy. The email will serve as documentation for your child’s absence. If the absence exceeds three days, a note from a physician is required for the absence to be considered excused. If a student has five (5) unexcused absences per trimester (i.e., the school has not received a communication from the parent indicating the reason for the absence), the principal/assistant principal will schedule a meeting with the parent(s).
Students are expected to be on the playground (or in the building on bad weather days) by 8:00 a.m. A student is considered tardy if he/she enters homeroom after 8:05 AM. To qualify for perfect attendance a student must be present and on time every day classes are held. Students arriving after 8:05 AM are considered tardy and must report to the office for a tardy slip before entering homeroom. It is important that students are on time and parents are asked to cooperate in seeing that they get here. Students who are tardy are responsible for completing any assignments that were started that day, even if they arrived after that assignment.
Parents should attempt to make appointments to minimize the amount of class time that students will miss during a school day. Student attendance will be officially recorded as indicated below.
- Missing between 1 hour and 4 hours will be marked as absent for one-half of the school day.
- Missing more than 4 hours will be marked as absent for a full day.
Students who miss more than eighteen (18) days may be subject to retention, i.e., the attendance record will be a factor taken into consideration when the decision to promote or retain the student is made.
The following list of circumstances is the only recognized excuse for school absence: personal illness, family illness, death in the family, religious holiday. The student is required to give advance notice to the school in order to be excused for any other type of absence. In the event of an absence, the student is expected to make up any missed assignments. Generally, the school allows the same number of days to make up work that the student was absent.
Within limits of a student’s maturity, it is his/her responsibility to obtain, complete and return to the teacher all work missed due to absence. Parents may pick up daily assignments in the office between 3:00 and 3:30 p.m. If you will be picking up your child’s work, please notify the office in the morning.
Cancellation of School
If school should have to be canceled due to bad weather, we send a text message to each family that signs up. If at all possible, you will receive a text message the night before. Information will also be placed on Nativity’s Twitter feed and posted via WLWT television (Channel 5). Every effort will be made to make a decision to close school by 6:00am. If a weather emergency occurs during school, the students will be kept at school until the danger passes.
Doctor and Dentist Appointments
Parents are encouraged to schedule doctor’s appointments after school hours. If this is impossible, the parent must send a communication to the teacher in advance, which will be kept on file in the office. Parents should also notify the school of a medical appointment by emailing attendance@nativity-cincinnati.org. Please include your child’s name, teacher, type of medical appointment (doctor, dental, etc.) and time of appointment. Parents should meet the child at the school office and return him/her to school as soon as possible. If a student misses school for vacation or illness, it is the student’s responsibility to make up the missed work according to the teacher’s directions. Families are asked not to take children out of school for vacations.