Colchester Public Schools feels strongly that good attendance is the foundation for student success. For several years, Bacon Academy has focused on improving its students' attendance rates; research supports the link between positive student attendance and increased levels of student success in school. The State of CT has affirmed that notion with its new guidelines for excused and unexcused absences. Guidelines For Excused/Unexcused Absences.pdf.
These guidelines contain several pieces, including the definition of an "absence," a two-tier approach to excused absences and documentation, and absenteeism prevention and intervention strategies. This Attendance Policy Update Letter.pdf illustrates the difference between excused and unexcused absences.
This new policy has taken effect across the entire State of CT. Starting on the first day of the 2015-2016 school year, we will be following this policy to differentiate between excused and unexcused absences.
The remainder of our attendance policy about maximum number of allowed unexcused absences and tardies and attendance failures will remain the same. Please refer to our entire attendance policy, outlined in the Official_Student_Handbook_2020-2021.pdf, to answer any questions about vacations, excused versus unexcused absences and tardies, and many other parts of our policy. Hopefully this notice has been helpful in educating you about the changes that are designed to improve student attendance for the purpose of increasing student learning.