Yes.  The Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction expects every school in the state to take daily attendance in 2020-21 for 100% remote learning, face-to-face, and for hybrid learning models.  Find the Statewide Definition of Absence for the 2020-21 School Year here.

Each school day teachers will record student participation in synchronous and asynchronous learning.  Students will be marked absent when they:

• do not participate in a scheduled class Zoom/Google session, OR
• do not have an interaction with their teacher on scheduled class days, OR
• do not attend a scheduled on-site small group, OR
• do not log into Canvas or Google Classroom to work on an assigned task.

Since some students will participate in independent learning after a teacher’s workday, teachers will complete attendance first thing in the morning for the previous school day after reviewing student Canvas or Google Classroom login activity from the prior evening up to midnight.  This new attendance taking approach means that a student who does not attend a scheduled class session on Monday morning but then logs into Canvas or Google Classroom later that evening to work on an assigned task will not be marked absent for Monday.

The district will send automated attendance messages to student’s primary parent/guardian for the previous day’s unreported absence.  This means that parents will be notified on Tuesday if their student was marked absent on Monday.  Notification will be sent by phone call, email message, and/or text message based on the notification preference parents/guardians select in Family Access found here.  Parents/guardians can check their student’s attendance anytime during the year at Family Access.  Family Access is a web-based tool designed to give parents/guardians and students access to student information such as attendance, academic progress, schedules, lunch balances and more!  Students and guardians each have their own access. 

Please understand that taking attendance during remote learning is more challenging than usual. If your student has been incorrectly marked absent, please call the school. We are able to make corrections when students/families alert us of verifiable errors.

To report an absence, as usual, contact your student’s school attendance phone line or use Family Access found here.  If you do not call the school or report the reason for an absence in Family Access, the absence will default to unexcused.  In addition to the valid excuses for absences listed in NTPS's attendance policy, 2020-21 emergency attendance rules add the following reasons for excused absence during Covid circumstances: 

• Ill family member 
• Lack of access to necessary instructional tools 
• Parents’ work schedule 
• Student’s obligations to family 

Your student will be able to make up any missed assignments following an excused absence as before.  Communication between home and teacher before, during, and/or after an absence will ensure that your student receives any missed lessons.  Often teachers record live instruction so that students may access asynchronously the content that was covered by the teacher.  Your student’s teacher will be able to explain how to make up missed instruction and/or assignments.

Daily attendance continues to be the expectation for 100% remote, hybrid, and on-site learning. Attendance requirements are created by state law and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). Additionally, all timelines and policies related to attendance and truancy remain the same for scheduled in-person learning. Schools will monitor each student's attendance and work in partnership with families to address barriers to regular attendance.