• Excused absences are those due to an illness, a medical appointment, a court appearance, a death in the family, or a religious holiday.
• Each absence from school must be reported to the Attendance Office by a parent/guardian within 72 hours of occurrence, as required by state law. Notify us every day that your student is absent.
• If we do not hear from a parent/guardian regarding your student’s absence, we will attempt to telephone you in the evening. Your student must bring a note to the Attendance Office before school on the day he/she returns only if you have not already contacted us about the absence.
• Please understand that all absences are considered unexcused—and will be marked as truancies after 24 hours—until we hear from a parent/guardian.
• Repeated unexcused absences for all or part of the school day, including absences from school without knowledge or consent of parents and/or unexcused tardiness, constitutes truancy under the State Education Code, Students who have numerous unexcused absences, tardies, or truancies from school may be referred to the School Attendance Review Board (SARB) for official intervention.

Should your student arrive late to school for any reason, he/she must check in at the Attendance Office before going to class. For safety reasons, it is important for school staff to be aware that your child is now on campus.

Please arrive early if you need to pick up a student, we are unable to release students after 2 p.m. (1 p.m. on Wednesday) due to getting the campus ready for dismissal. Students will not be called out of the classroom until a parent or guardian is present at the Attendance Window. 
Parents are required to come to the Attendance Window to meet and sign out their student. Students may not meet parents in the parking lot or drop-off lane. Parents must give verbal confirmation if emergency contact is picking up student. Photo Identification is required when signing out a student. 

If you should have a change in your address, phone number, or emergency phone numbers, please notify the office immediately. Contact Paloma Orozco, registar, at (760) 290-2465 or email at paloma.orozco@smusd.org. It is important to always have the most up-to-date contact in the event your child becomes ill or is injured, authorized persons must be able to be contacted.