Schedule

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 chances 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 and the KCS School Board, has adopted a pre-k attendance policy effective December 2023 (see Policy J-120).

The following are acceptable reasons for an excused absence:

• Personal illness or communicable disease (virus or flu);
• Immediate family member illness;
• Death in the family;
• Extreme weather conditions;
• Religious observances; and
• Military deployment of a family member (see Board Policy J-120)

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 Director at 865-594-1529.

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. Parents are limited to 10 Parent Excuse Notes.

6. If the 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.

   1. 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. The plan must:

      1. Identify the reasons for absences;

      2. Include a specific plan and date for establishing regular attendance or alternative services that meet the child’s educational goals;

      3. Include documentation of services and student’s outcomes to determine effectiveness of the attendance plan.

7. 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 absences per month, or ten (10) unexcused absences in one school year, may be terminated from the program for failure to follow the attendance policy.

8. Because the seats are limited, your child’s spot may be filled as soon as he/she is withdrawn. Future eligibility for the terminated child to re-enter the program will depend upon vacancies after a 30-day waiting period and a parent conference to establish faithful, binding Home/School Compact.