Hume-Fogg Families

Attendance

All absences must be verified by the parent or guardian in writing within three (3) days via email to our attendance secretary, Debbie Kraski.

The excuse note can be attached or simply included in the body of the email. This note will then be printed and kept in the child’s attendance folder. We ask that email notes be used when at all possible to minimize paper waste and the potential spread of germs through paper processing.

Absences may be excused for up to 10 days for the following reasons:

Personal illness or illness in the family requiring the student's temporary help
Death in the family (up to 3 days)
Head lice (up to 3 days per infestation)
Recognized religious holidays regularly observed by persons of the student's faith
Court appearance or legal mandates
Documented college visits**
Deployment of a parent/guardian serving in the military (1 day for deployment; 1 day for return; and up to 10 days when the service member is on temporary leave at home)
Unforeseeable emergencies
Employment interview or conference
Doctor or dental appointments
Other reasons requested in writing in advance by the parent/guardian and considered legitimate by the principal or designee

All absences for which no written verification is received within three (3) days will be considered unexcused. No adjustments will be made to attendance records after the three (3) days.

If a student’s absences exceed 10, no further absences may be excused without a doctor’s note. More detailed information can be found in the MNPS student-parent handbook.

Students with 10% or more absences, whether excused or unexcused, are chronic and will be provided mandated supports.

College Visits

**See MNPS Policy/Procedures for the # of days allowable for college visits each year.] College visit forms must be completed and turned in to the main office prior to the visit. On the date of return to Hume-Fogg the student must present the attendance secretary in the main office with official documentation from the college verifying visit. If documentation is not provided, the absence will not be excused as a college visit.

Chronic Absences

Hume-Fogg uses a progressive monitoring and support system we call our Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) for chronically absent students.

3rd Unexcused Absence: Care call home and document in S&I
5th Absence: Collaborative Referral to Counselor & document in S & I, 5 day truancy letter sent home
7th Absence: Counselor led Parent Conference to establish Attendance Plan
10th+ Absence: Referral to Juvenile Court

The administration has the right to deny privilege for driver licenses when students are found to be truant (5 or more days of unexcused absences).

Students involved in extracurricular activities must be present for at least 50% of the school day to perform in any after-school activities except in unusual circumstances. Half day = 196 minutes of attendance. For a minute report, see the Attendance Secretary.

Early Dismissal

If an early dismissal is necessary, a parent or authorized person must either come to the office to sign out the child before 2:30 p.m., provide a written note when they arrive on campus, or send an email a minimum of 30 minutes before the requested dismissal time to the attendance secretary.

Notes and emails should include the student name, reason and time for the early dismissal, and an Infinite Campus parent or guardian phone number where a parent can be reached for verification. An email address not in Infinite Campus as a parent or guardian email address will not be honored. Students will not be dismissed by a phone call unless identity can be verified by the office staff.

(Again, parents should not plan to enter the building for a dismissal request after 2:30 pm as that time of the day is a very hectic time for us).

Since early dismissal is essentially an absence from class time, dismissal will be managed in alignment with the established absence policy requirements. Excessive early dismissals may lead to referral to the truancy office.

Make-up Work

All make up work must be requested by the student within 3 days of the student returning to school. All assignments due on the date of their absence of which they had prior knowledge will be due on the day of their return.

Students who are on a school event or field trip must communicate with their teachers prior to their absence using the School-Related Activity (SRA) form. SRA forms are available in the main office.

Tardies

The school day begins promptly at 8:00 a.m. Students are expected to be in their classrooms, in their seats, and ready for instruction at that time. Students arriving to school after 8:00 a.m. must sign in at the tardy table before going to class.

A tardy may only be excused for the following reasons: doctor/dental appointment, court appointment, late WeGo bus, funeral, religious obligations, or personal or family illnes

Traffic cannot be an excuse for being tardy. Students earning unexcused tardies to class will be disciplined in alignment with the disciplinary referral process established by MNPS and published in the Student Parent Handbook. Consequences will be issued as follows:

Tardy # 1 = Verbal warning
Tardy # 2 = Verbal warning and teacher email or phone to parent
Tardy # 3 = Teacher enters referral in Infinite Campus (IC) as code 100 and email/call parent
Tardy # 4 = Teacher enters referral in IC as codes 200 with “Tardy” as the title to Administration – Lunch Detention (1 days)
Tardy # 5 = Teacher enters referral in IC as codes 300 with “Tardy” as the title to Administration – Lunch Detention (2 days)
Tardy #6 and above = Teacher enters referral in IC as codes 400 with “Tardy” as the title to Administration – Lunch Detention (3 days) with parent conference and attendance plan.

Arrivals/Dismissal

Our classes start promptly at 8:00 a.m. and end at 3:00 p.m.
The building opens at 7:15 a.m. and closes at 3:15 p.m. Students must be ushered out of the building by 3:15 p.m. each day unless directly supervised by an MNPS employee. The Downtown Public Library is available for our students after school should a student need a safe place to wait on a ride. There is no adult supervision for students outside the school after 3:15 pm. Therefore, we ask that each family make arrangement to ensure students have a safe location or proper transportation.
When school is scheduled for a half day, our school day is 8:00 a.m. until 11:15 a.m. The building opens at 7:15 a.m. Students must be out of the building by 11:30 a.m. unless directly supervised by a MNPS employee.

Inclement Weather

If school is canceled, early dismissal notice will be given over local radio and TV stations and MNPS will do a telephone call out to families. Parents should feel free to implement predetermined arrangements for pickup and early release.

School Zone

Nashville Public Works and MNPD have partnered with Hume-Fogg to set up a SCHOOL ZONE on Broadway in front of Hume-Fogg. The lights are turned on at 7:30 am and run until 8:10 am and again from 2:45 pm until 3:20 pm. Police will often be visible and ticket those who do not slow down and observe the 15 mile per hour speed limit within the school zone.

Student Drop Off and Pick Up

There are bus stops on 8th Ave South at Broadway right outside the school, and the Central Bus Station is a 15 minute walk. Consider the info provided on the parking and transportation page to see if your journey would be easier by public transit.

Vehicles are allowed to drop off and pick up their children in front of the building in the passenger loading zone. Vehicles should be pulled up as far as possible on Broadway to allow for a manageable forward flow in the traffic. If you should pull into the zone for pick up and your child is not outside ready to load, please continue around the block to allow other children to load and/or unload safely. Do not block driveways or parking lot entrances/exits. At no time should anyone stop in moving traffic on Broadway, 7th Avenue or 8th Avenue to drop off or pick up children. This creates an extremely unsafe situation.

Drop Off and Pick Up Suggestion

Find a safe location 2 to 4 blocks away and have your child walk there to meet you, keeping you and them away from the congestion.