Attendance

Parents are encouraged to email their child's school before the start of school on the day of the absence with a reason for the absence.  Emails received before the start of the school day can be considered both notification and documentation of the student's absence.

Parents may send an email to the following to report and absence:

• Senior High School - fhsattendance@fairfieldcityschools.com
• Academy - academyattendance@fairfieldcityschools.com
• Freshman School - freshmanattendance@fairfieldcityschools.com
• Creekside  Middle School - csattendance@fairfieldcityschools.com
• Crossroads Middle School - crattendance@fairfieldcityschools.com
• Central Elementary - centralattendance@fairfieldcityschools.com
• Compass Elementary - compassattendance@fairfieldcityschools.com
• East Elementary - eastattendance@fairfieldcityschools.com
• North Elementary - northattendance@fairfieldcityschools.com
• South Elementary - southattendance@fairfieldcityschools.com
• West Elementary - westattendance@fairfieldcityschools.com

The District makes an attempt to contact the parent, guardian, or other person having care of a student who has not notified the school of the student’s absence that day regarding that student’s absence without legitimate excuse within 120 minutes of the start of the school day. The Board authorizes the Superintendent to determine and use the appropriate notification procedure and methods consistent with State law.

Each student who is absent for reasons other than religious expression days must immediately, upon return to school, make arrangements with his/her teacher(s) to make up work missed. Students who are absent from school for reasons not permitted by State law may, or may not, be permitted to make up work. Each case is considered on its merits by the principal and the respective teacher(s). Students who are absent due to an in-school or out-of-school suspension are permitted to make up missed classroom assignments in accordance with District level policies and procedures. Students are requested to bring a note to school after each absence explaining the reason for the absence or tardiness in accordance with procedures and timelines defined in District level policies and procedures.

The Board does not believe that students should be excused from school for vacations or other nonemergency trips out of the District. The responsibility for such absences resides with the parent or guardian, and they must not expect any work missed by their child to be re-taught by the teacher. If the school is notified in advance of such a trip, reasonable efforts are made to prepare a general list of assignments for the student to do while he/she is absent.

Reasons for which students may be excused include, but are not limited to:

1. personal illness of the student;
2. illness in the student’s family necessitating the presence of the child; 
3. quarantine for contagious disease; or 
4. emergency or other set of circumstances in which the judgment of the Superintendent constitutes a good and sufficient cause for absence from school, which may include but not be limited to absences due to documented medical, behavioral or dental appointments;
5. needed at home to perform necessary work directly and exclusively for parents or legal guardians for a limited period of time when approved in advance by the Superintendent (applies to students over 14 years of age only when all statutory obligations have been met for such excusal);
6. death in the family (applies to absences of up to 18 school hours unless a reasonable cause may be shown for a longer absence);
7. up to three religious expression days per school year in accordance with Ohio Revised Code 3320.04;
8. traveling out of state to attend a Board-approved enrichment activity or extracurricular activity (applies to absences of up to 24 school hours);
9. post-secondary visitation, for which a student may be marked as “present” for such absences for up to three days per school year;
10. pre-enlistment reporting to a military enlistment processing station, for which a student may be marked as “present” if the absence is used to help fulfill graduation requirements;
11. absences of a student of a military family for purposes of visiting their parent, legal guardian or custodian who is an active duty member of the uniformed services that has been called to duty for, is on leave from, or immediately returned from deployment to a combat zone or combat support posting;
12. absences due to a student's placement in foster care or change in foster care placement or any court proceedings related to their foster care status;
13. absences due to a student being homeless or;
14. attending a driver education course outside of core curriculum (applies to absences for two hours per day up to eight hours maximum, which cannot exceed four consecutive days or can be nonconsecutive) or
15. as determined by the Superintendent.
16.  

The District's truancy procedures have been updated following the passage of HB96. To ensure compliance, Fairfield City Schools will implement the following procedures for the 2026/2027 school year: 

1. Communication will be sent to families periodically throughout the year via ParentSquare to provide information about Fairfield attendance policies and emphasize the importance of regular school attendance. 
2. Parents/guardians will receive an automated ParentSquare notification when a student's total absences (excused and unexcused) begin to approach 5% of the total school year hours to date.
3. If a student accumulates 42 hours of unexcused absences in a month or 72 hours in a year, an Attendance Plan may be developed.
4. If attendance concerns continue after implementation of the Attendance Plan, additional steps may be needed, including a possible court referral for student and/or parent.

More information regarding Student Absences and Excuses can be found in Policy JED.  Details on Truancy and its consequences can be found in Policy JEDA.

Policy JEDC is required by law to allow students up to 3 excused absences each school year for religious expression days.   Per law, we have created a non-exhaustive list of major religious holidays or festivals for which a religious expression day will not be denied.  A copy of the list is available for download at the bottom of this web page.  The policy and list will also be communicated to parents and guardians at the beginning of each school year.  

The district is required to attempt to notify the parent or guardian of a student who is absent without a legitimate excuse. This notification will be made via the ParentSquare notification system.  To ensure you are receiving such notifications, please accept the email invitation that was sent to you in July. If, after checking your Spam or Junk folders, you do not have an invitation, please check your contact information in FinalForms and make any changes there. Your changes will sync with ParentSquare overnight, so please check again for an invitation.

Review the state’s attendance policy

Policy JEDC is required by law to allow students up to 3 excused absences each school year for religious expression days.   Per law, we have created a non-exhaustive list of major religious holidays or festivals for which a religious expression day will not be denied.  A copy of the list is available for download.  The policy and list will also be communicated to parents and guardians at the beginning of each school year.

Non-Exhaustive List of Major Religious Holidays Hand-Out