All Grade Levels:

State law allows exemptions to the compulsory attendance requirements for the following activities and events, as long as the student makes up all the work:

• Religious holy days
• Required court appearances
• Activities related to obtaining U.S. citizenship
• Documented health-care appointments for the student or a child of the student, including absences related to autism services, if the student returns to school on the same day of the appointment and brings a note from the health-care provider
• Absences resulting from a serious or life-threatening illness or related treatment that makes a student’s attendance infeasible, with certification by a physician
  • For students in the conservatorship of the state
  • An activity required under a court-ordered service plan
  • Any other court-ordered activity, provided it is not practicable to schedule the student’s participation in the activity outside of school hours. For children of military families, absences of up to five days will be excused for a student to visit a parent, stepparent, or legal guardian going to, on leave from, or returning from certain deployments. [See Children of Military Families on page 23 in our student handbook.]

Secondary Grade Levels: 

The district will allow a student who is 15 years of age or older to be absent for one day to obtain a learner's permit and one day to obtain a driver’s license, provided that the board has authorized such excused absences under policy FEA (LOCAL). The student will be required to provide documentation of his or her visit to the driver’s license office for each absence and must make up any work missed. [See Driver License Attendance Verification on page 35 in our student handbook.]

The district will allow junior and senior students to be absent for up to two days per year to visit a college or university, provided: 

• The board has authorized such excused absences under policy FEA (LOCAL)
• The principal has approved the student’s absence
• The student follows campus procedures to verify the visit and makes up any work missed

The district will allow a student 17 years old or older to be absent for up to four days during the period the student is enrolled in high school to pursue enlistment in the U.S. armed services or Texas National Guard, provided the student verifies these activities to the district.

The district will allow a student to be absent for up to two days per school year to serve as:

•  An early voting clerk, provided the district’s board has authorized this in policy FEA(LOCAL), the student notifies his or her teachers, and the student receives approval from the principal prior to the absence or an election clerk, if the student makes up any work missed.

The district will allow a student in grades 6–12 to be absent for the purpose of sounding “Taps” at a military honors funeral for a deceased veteran.