Accepted Excused Absences
- Health: See "Health Absences" below.
- Bereavement: One day. Three days if travel required.
- Religious observance: As necessary for religious holidays
- Administrator approved absences: See "Warranted Absences" below
Health Absences
A medical note is required when a student has been absent from school, for health reasons, for a period of 5 consecutive school days.
If a student is unable to participate in PE due to an illness or injury, the student is still required to report to PE, even if they are not going to be participating in the class. If the non participation is just for a single day, the parent/guardian should send a note with their student alerting the PE teacher to the fact that they do not want their student participating in PE.
If a student is unable to participate in PE for an extended period of time, (more than just one day), a medical note needs to be supplied to the Health Office Technician who will notify the PE teacher of the reason and dates the student is unable to participate in class.
Medical documentation is also required if a student has been absent with health absences for 10 percent or more of the school year. This translates into one or more periods of health absences, per day, over a period of 18 days. The 18 days is taken from the first day of the school year.
Warranted Absences
These include, but are not limited to court appearances, outside sporting events and personal reasons approved by an Administrator. Family oriented absences such as vacations or other similar personal absences, do not fall into this category.
- Fill out the Prior Approval Form (or get one from the Gunn Main Office or Attendance Office), and submit to the Attendance Office
- The student and a parent/guardian need to sign the form
- Obtain teacher signatures, along with class assignments
- Return the form to the Attendance Office 72 hours in advance of the request
- The Attendance personnel will return the form to the Main Office for final administrator approval
College Visits
Seniors and second semester juniors, with written prior approval, may take five (5) days of Independent Study to visit college campuses. Students who do not complete a Prior Approval form prior to the visit, will be excused with a red "Other Unexcused" code for classes/days missed and may lose the opportunity to make up assignments/tests.
Students are required to obtain approval for a warranted absence by completing a Prior Approval form following the above process.
The teacher of any class from which a student is absent shall determine what assignments the student shall make up and in what period of time the student shall complete such assignments. Upon satisfactory completion, full credit shall be granted. The tests and assignments shall be equivalent, but not necessarily identical, to those which the student missed during the absence.
Other Absences
When referring to your student's attendance record on line, a personal excuse code will either have a red background or a green background.
Other Excused: OTE (green background)
The OTE code (Personal Excused absence, green background), results from the student filling out a Prior Approval form 72 hours PRIOR to the absence. This code is used for warranted personal absences or absences at the discretion of the Administration.
Other Unexcused: OTU (red background)
The OTU code (Personal Unexcused absence, red background), is used to excuse personal commitment absences such as non-health related appointments that cannot be scheduled outside of school hours or when no Warranted Absence form has been completed.
Gunn High School complies with the State of California Education Code and, as such, this OTU code is not recognized by the State of California as an excused absence. Once a student has 3 OTU codes on their attendance record, they will be considered truant by the State. If a student is marked with the OTU code, teachers are not obligated to grant credit for assignments, nor permit a student to make up tests they may miss while absent for this personal reason.
