Reporting a Student's Absense/Tardy for the Day

Parents, if your student(s) will be tardy/absent for the day, please notify the office at 242-8411 between 7:45-8:10 a.m. (this line is in use daily from 8:14-8:25 for the Pledge of Allegiance/Student Overhead Announcements), or from 8:25 a.m. -1:00 p.m. or by emailing the Office Manager at Deborah.hutton@dmps.k12.ia.us. Please refrain from calling the office between the 8:14-8:25 a.m. timeframe since the office phone will be in use for the PA System (overhead paging) during that time, so calls cannot be answered. The Office Manager records student attendance in the Infinite Campus student database in the computer every morning which is part of the student’s permanent attendance record which follows them from school to school. If we haven’t received a call or email regarding a student’s absence, then a call will be placed to the parent in the morning usually starting around 9:00 a.m. This is also for the student’s safety in case they haven’t made it to school yet, so the parent can follow-up on the student’s whereabouts. If we don’t hear back from you with a reason for an absence, then the absence will be recorded as unexcused for the day. You have 24 hours to correct this from an unexcused to an excused absence by notifying the office the next day with a valid reason that is considered excused by the new District Attendance Policy that was given to every parent with a parent handbook at the Open House at the beginning of the school year. A copy of the Attendance Policy may be obtained from the office. To ensure a smooth transition in recording attendance, please follow this procedure. Thank you.