Attendance

General Attendance Requirements

Regular attendance and arriving at school on time are important parts of student success. Pennsbury School District works with students and families to improve attendance and address barriers that may prevent students from attending school regularly.

All students ages 6 through 17 must attend school. This is known as the compulsory school attendance requirement. When students do not attend school on a regular basis, they may be considered tardy or truant. Intervention strategies will be utilized with the goal of improving school attendance for truant students, with a special focus on eliminating barriers to school attendance.

Regular daily class attendance and punctuality are necessary for the learning process to be effective. Frequent absences can disrupt the continuity of classroom learning experiences, student interaction, and study. Students who frequently miss school may experience greater difficulty receiving the full benefits of classroom instruction.

Pennsbury recognizes that there are occasions when a student cannot be present and may miss an important learning experience.

Arriving on time to school and class is also an important factor in student engagement and success. Repeated unexcused absences or their equivalent, including unexcused tardy minutes, constitute truancy as defined in District attendance guidelines. Schools will provide interventions and support for school and class tardiness before assigning disciplinary consequences.

SafeArrival: Report a Student Absence

Pennsbury School District uses SafeArrival to provide parents and guardians with a convenient way to report student absences.

3 Ways to Report App, website, or telephone
Available 24/7 Report an absence anytime
Report in Advance Future absences may also be submitted

Parents and guardians who report an absence using SafeArrival will not receive a call from the automated attendance system for that reported absence.

A SafeArrival submission also serves as the student's absence note, so an additional absence note is not required.

Choose One of Three Ways to Report an Absence

SchoolMessenger Home App

Use the SM Home (SchoolMessenger Home) app on your mobile device.

  1. Open the SM Home app.
  2. Sign in using the email address Pennsbury has on file for you .
  3. Select Attendance.
  4. Select Report an Absence.
  5. Choose your student.
  6. Enter the requested absence information.
  7. Select Submit.

Don't have the app? Search for SM Home in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The app is free.

SchoolMessenger Website

Report an absence from a computer, tablet, or mobile device.

  1. Visit the SchoolMessenger website.
  2. Sign in using the email address Pennsbury has on file for you .
  3. Select Attendance.
  4. Select Report an Absence.
  5. Choose your student.
  6. Enter the requested absence information.
  7. Select Submit.
Go to SchoolMessenger

Telephone

Call the SafeArrival automated attendance line:

1-866-318-3517

Follow the automated prompts to report your student's absence.

SafeArrival Tips

  • Your username and password are the same for both the SchoolMessenger Home app and the SchoolMessenger website.
  • SafeArrival is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, up to the cutoff time on the day of the absence.
  • The cutoff time for reporting an absence through SafeArrival is 11:45 p.m. on the day of the absence.
  • If you do not report your child's absence through SafeArrival by 11:45 p.m. on the day of the absence, you will need to email the attendance office at your child's school within three days to report the absence.
  • If an absence has not been reported through SafeArrival, the SchoolMessenger Communicate automated notification system will contact parents/guardians by email, telephone, and text message if the parent or guardian has opted in to receive texts .
  • To receive text notifications, text Y or Yes to 67587 from the mobile phone number on file with the District.
  • The telephone number that will appear on your caller ID for an automated SafeArrival call is 866-318-3517.
  • If you report your child's absence in SafeArrival before the start of the school day, you will not receive an automated absence notification and you will not need to submit an additional absence note.
  • Educational trips cannot be reported through SafeArrival. Please complete the required forms and obtain permission from your building principal. Access attendance forms for educational trips .

If an Absence Is Not Reported Through SafeArrival

When a student is absent, the student's parent or guardian receives notice from the school on the day of the absence.

Submitting an Excuse Note

If a parent or guardian does not use SafeArrival to report the student's absence, they have three days from the date the student returns to school to submit an excuse note.

Excuse notes may be written or submitted electronically through the attendance email address for the student's school. A list of attendance email addresses is at the bottom of this page.

Until an excuse note is received, the absence or lateness is treated as unexcused.

Parents and guardians may submit an excuse for up to 10 absences per school year. Absences after the tenth day require an excuse from a licensed healthcare provider.

Unexcused Absences and Truancy

If an excuse note is not submitted, the absence will be considered unlawful and recorded as unexcused.

After three unexcused absences, the family will receive written notification from the school.

If attendance does not improve and additional unexcused absences occur, a referral to community and out-of-school supports may be made. As a last resort, truancy charges may be filed with the local magistrate.

School Attendance Contacts
Attendance Email Addresses
School Name Email Address
Afton Elementary School [email protected]
Edgewood Elementary School [email protected]
Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School [email protected]
Fallsington Elementary School [email protected]
Makefield Elementary School [email protected]
Manor Elementary School [email protected]
Oxford Valley Elementary School [email protected]
Penn Valley Elementary School [email protected]
Quarry Hill Elementary School [email protected]
Walt Disney Elementary School [email protected]
Charles Boehm Middle School [email protected]
Pennwood Middle School [email protected]
William Penn Middle School [email protected]
Pennsbury High School [email protected]