The Attendance Office: What To Do When You Are Absent

Hi everyone!  Welcome to Fort Settlement’s Attendance office.  My name is Mrs. Dickey and I am Fort Settlement’s Attendance Clerk.

As I’m sure you know, regular attendance at school is very important for you to be successful.  However, we do understand that there are times when you are unable to attend due to sickness or other reasons.  If this is the case, please email the attendance office at attendancefsms@fortbendisd.com within 5 days of returning to school.  The FSMS attendance office is going all electronic this year, so all notes MUST be submitted via email.  When submitting a medical note, please send as a scanned item or as a picture.  If sending as a picture, please select the "Actual Size" option.

Please be sure to include the following in all notes:

·         Student's First and Last Name

·         Grade

·         Reason for absence

·         Absence dates

·         Parent’s contact phone number

If your absence is due to an illness and you are absent for more than 3 days, we do require a note from a doctor or clinic verifying the illness or condition that caused the extended absence.

If we do not receive the required documentation regarding your absence within 5 days, your absence will be marked unexcused.  Keep in mind that if you are absent without an excused reason for three or more full or partial days within a four-week period or for a total of five unexcused absences, a truancy warning will be issued.

Your parent will receive an email from the school anytime you are marked as absent by a teacher for which we have not received an excuse note.  If you believe an error was made regarding attendance, please contact the teacher whose class you were marked absent.

If you have a preplanned absence, please try to notify us at least 3 school days prior to the actual absences.  And if an early dismissal is needed on a school day, we do need a note for that as well.  We will then send you a pass in class when it is time to leave.  Report to the attendance office to await pick-up.  Please note, the latest pick up is 3:45 pm.  We do not release students after that time.

For further attendance information, please check out my attendance page on the Fort Settlement website or the Parent/Student Handbook also located on my attendance page as well as on the Parents Homepage on the FBISD website.  Once again, welcome to Fort Settlement and please feel free to contact me with any questions!