Spruce ES Policies

Parents/guardians must contact the school office whenever their child is absent.

How to inform school-

1) Call Spruce at 650-877-8780

2) Verify through Parent Square

3) Email Administrative Assistant or Office Assistant.

Excusable absences include: 

• Illness
• Medical/dental appointment
• Death or funeral of immediate family member.

Students who have accumulated more than ten (10) days of medical excuses, must provide a doctor’s note for the next absence.

Parents/guardians may clear excused absences by providing the school office with a signed note within 72 hours of the absence that includes the current date, student’s name, and exact days he/she was absent.

Studies show that there is a direct correlation between attendance rates, health, and student achievement. Some of the negative impacts of spotty attendance include:

• Students must work twice as hard the next day to catch up on missed instruction and missed assignments including homework. 
   
• Teachers lose class time by having to repeat lessons for students who were absent. 
   
• Schools lose funding from the State of California when students are absent from school. This includes all absences, even those related to illness, medical, or dental appointments.
   
• A loss of funding can lead to the loss of programs such as music, technology, summer school, etc.

Chronic absence in kindergarten is also associated with lower academic performance in first grade among all children and may predict lower levels of educational achievement by the end of fifth grade.

Help your child achieve consistent attendance by:

• Creating a contract with your child;
   

• Discussing problems your child may have at school and informing teachers about anything serious;
   

• Reinforcing the importance of punctuality;
   

• Setting regular bedtime schedules;
   

• Incorporating regular exercise in your child's daily activities.

Regular attendance and being on time is closely related to achievement and success at school.

The cafeteria opens at 7:50 AM for breakfast, and school starts at 8:20 AM.

Students should come to school on time each day.

Because school attendance is compulsory under state law, parents/ guardians must ensure that their child attends school on time.

Tardy students must obtain a tardy slip from the school office before entering class. 

The school will initiate a discussion with parents/guardians in the event of a student's excessive tardiness.

Three (3) tardies of 30 minutes or more may result in referral to the district's attendance and welfare office.

First Notification Letter

To be classified as a truant, a student must have had three (3) unexcused absences or three (3) tardies of 30 minutes or more. Education Code Section 48260.5 requires that the parent/guardian be notified by a letter informing them of what can occur if their child fails to attend school.

Second Notification Letter and Truancy Meeting

In the event of continued attendance issues, the school will generate a second letter that includes a time and date for a meeting with the school principal.

Students who have been identified as truant (5 or more unexcused absences and/or 10 tardies) will be presented with an attendance contract or attendance improvement plan.

Regular truancy meetings will be held with students and their parents/guardians to improve the student's attendance rate. Our schoolwide average daily attendance (ADA) goal is 98%. 

Third Notification Letter and School Attendance and Review Board (SARB)

In the event of continued attendance issues, the student will be referred to the School Attendance Review Board (SARB). 

The health and welfare of our students and staff are a top priority. Please observe the following guidelines to help maintain your health and that of your child:

• Teach children to wash their hands properly, especially after using the restroom, and frequently throughout the day.
   
• Provide healthy, nutritious food and a good breakfast everyday. Reduce the consumption of soda and foods with processed sugar, while increasing daily intake of fruits and vegetables.
   
• Designate regular and consistent bedtimes for children, so they can receive 8 hours of sleep each night.
   
• Cough into the elbow to reduce the spread of germs.

Students may be picked up early during school hours for emergency appointments only. Parents/guardians must notify the school office no later than 24 hours after the emergency appointment.

To minimize learning loss, parents should refrain from making appointments for their children during school hours, and students should attend classes up until the time they need to leave for their appointment.

All persons picking up students early from school must provide appropriate photo identification when signing students out at the school office.

School staff will review the student’s emergency card information to confirm that the person is authorized to pick up the student.

The student will not be authorized to leave school, if the person is not listed on the student's emergency card.

7:45 AM-8:10 AM

Children attending breakfast are to eat. Breakfast is not a drop off for before school care. If you looking for before school care, please call the Main Office for programs.

Students should not bring smart watches or cell phones to school. These devices can be a distraction to learning and take away from valuable classroom time. In addition, they can be a concern if used for communication/pictures at recess. If your child needs to bring a phone/smart watch for after-school communication or tracking, it must remain turned off and kept in their backpack during the school day.

Children may only use the Office phone to communicate with parents

Thank you for helping us create a safe and focused learning environment for all students!

SPECIAL EVENTS

(Valentine’s, Halloween, Birthdays, etc.)

For safety and equity reasons, we are not accepting any outside food for any party favors. However, Teachers may request donations for curriculum-related projects or activities in the classroom for a special event or holiday.

Goody bags may be sent to the classroom with no food/candy.

Goody bag small object examples:

• Pencils, erasers, crayons, stickers, tattoos, mini puzzles, mini playdough, fidget, etc.

We encourage our families to have celebrations with their friends and families during non school hours for birthdays.

Please come to the office to pick up an application to start the process.

Please click on the link below for Spruce's Uniform, thank you!

• 22-23 School Uniform