Contact and Policy

Do you have a question about attendance? Please contact Elizabeth Yoder, Director of Student Support.

School Committee Attendance Policy
Massachusetts State Law Regarding Attendance
Early Childhood Education Attendance Guidance

Excused Absences

  • Student’s illness or injury 
  • Death of a close family member 
  • Observance of a major religious holiday 
  • Court summons (student’s name must appear on the summons) 
  • School/administration approved activities 
  • College visits (documentation required) 
  • Legal, immigration, military or other similar obligations 
  • Medical or psychological appointments during the school day 
  • Suspension

Unexcused Absences

  • Repetitive or chronic absence or tardiness due to illness or injury not documented by a doctor or other medical professional
  • Cutting class 
  • Truancy
  • Family vacations
  • Undocumented absences
  • Non-emergency family situations

WATCH | Why Attendance Matters

Dear Parents & Caregivers,

For all students to fully benefit from learning experiences at school, we need students to attend school on time every day. Although we recognize that illness and emergency may cause a student to be absent periodically, we hope these situations are limited. Absence and tardiness negatively affect the students’ academic progress. If families face specific attendance challenges, our staff is available to partner with families to find appropriate supports. The key is to be in close communication and partner with the school to support our students’ success. 

At Salem Public Schools, we expect families to:

*Send children to school (whether in-person or remote learning) on time every day. We strongly recommend that students strive to have no more than 5 absences in the school year. If children are sick or experience any symptoms related to COVID-19 (e.g. fever of 100 or above, cough, shortness of breath), however, please keep them home. 

View our 2025-26 Covid-19 Guidelines
  • Notify the school about planned absences and bring documentation of excused absences to school within 3 days of the absence. Int he case of routine medical appointments within Essex County, we expect students to be in school before or after the appointment.
  • Reserve excused absences for emergencies or extraordinary circumstances (such as illness, bereavement or religious holidays). Principals have discretion to excuse absences for other specific reasons. Please note that extended family vacation are not excused.
  • Communicate regularly with teachers and plan to make-up missed time and school work.

Working together we can help all of our students improve their attendance.  Your voice is critical in reaffirming to your student your high expectation that they go to school every day and how important that habit is to ensuring they graduate high school on time. Here are some great resources created by Attendance Works that you can use to help support your student:

How will attendance be taken this year?

Following state guidelines, attendance will be taken daily for each student. Student attendance remains part of school and district accountability which means that all schools must work to achieve lower levels of chronic absenteeism. 

Thank you for choosing the Salem Public Schools for your child’s education.  Our vision is that every student will be locally engaged, globally connected and fully prepared to thrive in a diverse and changing world.