This year Bowie has a new attendance policy. We are now recording an overall attendance during 3rd and 7th period. The teachers will submit it online during the first thirty minutes of class.

“The designated attendance window from the district fell fell during our FIT last year, so it didn’t work with our campus sharing programs. We selected 3rd and 7th period this year for easier coordination for the schools we share with,” said Lawrence Britton.

Last year, Bowie had the same attendance system in place, just at different times of day.

“Here at Bowie we have previously recorded attendance 2nd and 6th period,” Britton said.

The district also has some say in when our attendance is monitored.

“The district can declare which period they use for official attendance. That has to do with state funding,” Britton said.

All the schools in AISD have to submit their attendance at the specified times. If you are absent at those times, you are counted absent for the day.

“This year the district has given us a 30 minute window to submit attendance, between 1:25 and 1:55, and that is the official attendance for the day,” Britton said

All teachers have to submit their daily 3rd and 7th  period class attendance during the given time frame. If they don’t, they have to turn it in manually to the attendance office.

“I always have an alarm set on my phone to remind me to submit attendance,” Rachel Tennen said .

Students have their attendance taken for each individual class as well as the school-wide survey during 3rd and 7th period.

“The student has to be there at those times during those school days, otherwise they’re considered absent the whole day,” Britton said.

Each student has an attendance chart on their TEAMS account that keeps track their absences for each class. The class credits you earn depend on the attendance to your individual class, not the school-wide attendance at 3rd and 7th period.

“Where the policy catches you is you can’t have more than three unexcused absences in a class for the semester. You have to be present for at least 90% of time the class is offered,” Britton said.

The district attendance, the school attendance, and the class attendance may be similar but they are separate when it comes to credits. Each system has numbers of their own.

“The 90% rule is for each class, and the attendance for 3rd and 7th is submitted to the district,” Britton said.

So far students aren’t having trouble meeting the time frames.

“The new policy doesn’t really affect me that much, but if I was running late coming back from off campus lunch I might not make the cut off,” sophomore Alyssa Guzman said.

The teachers don’t appear to have any issues with excessive student absences either.

“I haven’t had any trouble with latecomers or stragglers from lunch,” Tennen said.

The new attendance policy doesn’t have a different structure than last year’s, it’s just more convenient for district surveying and campus sharing.

“The policy isn’t actually new, we’re just recording it at periods three and seven now. Those are the periods used for school funding,” Britton said.