Liberty Middle School and Hanover County Public Schools follow all legal requirements associated with compulsory attendance for students as outlined in the Virginia code. At Liberty Middle School, we strive to create open lines of communication between home and school to positively support student attendance. Below we have outlined some communication that occurs around attendance.
- Full Day Absence
Parents should report their child's absence as soon as possible and within three days of their return to school in order to excuse the absence.
Written documentation is required from a parent or guardian: email Lee Hockensmith, complete the online form - English or the online form - Spanish, or send a written note to the main office or fax it to (804) 365-8061
Submit any professional notes (doctor, dentist, orthodontist, counselor, court, etc.) to the main office to excuse absences for professional appointments. You may also email these to Lee Hockensmith.
*All absences without parent notification will remain unexcused. See absence monitoring and limits below.
- Late Arrival - After 8:45 a.m.
Parents do not need to accompany their student inside. Students should report to the main office desk for a pass to class.
Please provide any related professional school excuse notes when you arrive late (doctor, dentist, orthodontist, counselor, court, etc.)
Attendance codes will be tardy if a student is late to the class but attends more than half of the block and absent if a student attends less than half of the block.
- Early Pick Up - Bring ID
We require anyone picking up a student from school to appear in the office and present appropriate identification. If the person picking up a student is not on the student’s pick-up list in PowerSchool, we require written communication from the student’s parent or guardian.
Students leaving before 3:00 p.m. will miss more than half of the block and marked absent from their 4th block class.
- Absence Monitoring and Limits
We monitor attendance daily to determine need for support or intervention.
- 1–4 Unexcused absences: If a student has one to four unexcused absences, the school may call a parent to determine the reason for the absences and to discuss necessary supports to improve attendance.
- 5 Unexcused absences: If a student has five unexcused absences, the school will call home to discuss a plan to improve attendance and reduce unexcused absences.
- 5–10 Absences (excused and unexcused combined): Parents will receive attendance notification letters in the mail if your child misses five days and again if they miss ten days of school. Please sign and return. If you would like to provide any information regarding listed unexcused absences - marked with a (u), please do so on a separate page.
- 10 Absences (excused and unexcused combined): We may require a professional note (doctor, dentist, counselor, etc.) to excuse additional absences.
- 10 block/class Absences (excused and unexcused combined): Middle school students, grades 6 through 8, who are absent from school for more than 10 blocks of any one alternate day schedule class will not receive credit for that class without an attendance waiver approved by school administration.
Additionally, you may find more attendance information in section 7 of the Hanover County Policy Manual or by contacting Liberty Middle School at (804) 365-8060.