Consistent school attendance is vital for meeting the educational needs of your child and promotes a quality learning experience for them. Students are expected to be at school every day it is in session. Missing days, whether excused or unexcused, can drastically affect a student’s achievement at school. We recognize that there may be days your student is absent due to a variety of legitimate reasons and those days may be excused with proper documentation. Absences due to circumstances related to COVID are also considered lawful.
Partnering with you to support your child’s consistent school attendance is our priority and is critical to supporting their educational growth. The school day for all students is 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
When your child is absent or late:
When your student(s) needs to stay home, please make sure that you send an attendance note to ves.attendance@fcps.org or send a written note to the office so that we can ensure proper record keeping. If we do not get a note, the absence is recorded as unlawful. Please see the FCPS Calendar Handbook for details on attendance.
Students arriving after 9:00 am need to sign in at the front office. The child should have a note from the family stating the reason for the lateness.
Dismissal Changes:
Dismissal changes need to be made by 3:00 pm to ensure that there is enough time to communicate the change. Please send a written note, call the front office at 240-236-3000 or email the front office staff (ves.attendance@fcps.org and Kathleen.wal@fcps.org).