Andy Vaughan
andyv@isb.ac.th
As we have reviewed last semester’s absences we have seen an increase in our total student absences throughout the semester. We understand that this is natural as we have returned to no masks and sickness appears to be travelling quicker in our student population than when we were masked over the past couple of years.
One of our goals this semester is to increase communication to parents about student absences and tardies. In particular, when a student starts to accumulate absences at a rate that may place them at risk of losing credit, or when tardies grow to a point where there is a disciplinary action. In these situations students and parents will start to receive an email each Friday afternoon if their absences in any class have exceeded 5 absences, or if their tardies are growing high. The basic discipline for tardies and absences can be found on p.5 of our student handbook.
If a student has over 7 absences in one semester in any one subject they will need to appeal the loss of credit in that course. This can only be done once in a student’s High School career. It is important to note that any absence from class whether excused, ill or even for IASAS counts towards the total absences.
An explanation of the most common attendance codes are listed here:
Blank=Present in class
X=Absent prior to a reason being established
T=Tardy to class
AbT=Absent on Test Day (even if sick or excused)
TE=Tardy Excused
AbE=Absent Excused
AbU=Absent Unexcused
HLAb=Absent on HL time
NPVS=Not Present Virtual School (COVID absences)
SPC=Special Event
I=Ill
N=Nurse
C=Counselor
M=Office
F=Field Trip
Y=IASAS
R=ROTC
E=Exam
Z=IB Exams or Mock Exams
SA=School Activity
As a reminder, please contact Khun Tukta if your child needs to be excused from school via email (hsattendance@isb.ac.th). You can also call to discuss any absence with Khun Tukta via 02 963 5883 (ext. 3305). It is appreciated if this email can be received before 8.00am so that we can alert teachers early.
It is important that we receive this parental contact, because without it, your child is marked as absent (X) on PowerSchool. Unexcused absences may result in additional consequences, such as a discipline consequence or loss of credit if excessive absences take place within a subject. You can see whether your child has been marked absent (X) on any day using PowerSchool. If we receive confirmation from parents that the absence is excused/explained, then we adjust the code to reflect that. Please help us to ensure we best understand the reasons for your child missing school.
Please also note if a student misses a class during the day, they are not able to participate in co-curricular activities on that day without prior approval from the Dean of Students.
For extended absences, parents should email Andy Vaughan (andyv@isb.ac.th) and copy in their child’s counselor and Khun Tukta (hsattendance@isb.ac.th) for approval. Please note that in order to gain credit in a class, students must not exceed 7 absences (excused or unexcused).
Covid related absences
For any student that tests positive to COVID, we still have a separate policy in place, please ensure that email the ISB nurse and cc in the HS Administration.
ISB Nurse: nurse@isb.ac.th
Justin Alexander: justina@isb.ac.th
Andy Vaughan: andyv@isb.ac.th
For students who are not able to attend school due to testing positive to COVID and the 5 day quarantine period, these students will have a code of NPVS (Not Present Virtual School) listed on PowerSchool for the 5 day period, or until they test negative (so long as a minimum of 5 days have passed)
Please note that the NPVS code does not count towards their accumulated absences. Students who are isolated due to covid need to log onto their Google Classroom to keep up with their classwork, no zoom is available for any absent students.