Short-term Independent Study

In some cases, parents know in advanced that their students must be absent for 3 or more consecutive school days. This may be due to:

Injury or illness.
Recovery from surgery.
Doctor’s order to stay home.
Planned trips out of town.
Last-minute emergency trips out of town.
Medical quarantine.

Students can easily become excessively absent during these situations. A short-term Independent Study agreement allows students in such cases to be absent for 3 to 15 consecutive school days without this time counting as absences, provided that said students:

Complete school work assigned by their teachers;
Shares evidence of completion with the Attendance Office.

When the two requirements above are met, students' time away on short-term Independent Study counts as time present in school and does not contribute negatively to their attendance rates.

How to initiate short-term Independent Study...

Parent/guardian plans 3 to 15 consecutive school days of absences.
Parent/guardian contacts the Attendance Office to initiate a short-term Independent Study agreement. (Students may not initiate this type of agreement.)
Parent/guardian can initiate short-term Independent Study agreements by phone or in person.
The Attendance Office staff will advise you if short-term Independent Study is appropriate in your student’s case. Not all situations are appropriate.
Your signature on this agreement is required, which you may provide in person or by phone (without physically coming to the office).

To maximize the benefits of short-term Independent Study, please make your request with the Attendance Office at least one day prior to your student’s planned time away from school. Earlier requests are preferred.

Begin your request for short-term Independent Study by directly contacting the Attendance Office directly at (619-628-5715) or visit the attendance office in person.

Student work during short-term Independent Study...

Teachers typically provide course work through their normal means (Google Classroom, Jupiter Grades, etc.).

Teachers normally assign the same work given to all students in class.

If teachers need to send paper assignments home to a student, the Attendance Coordinator can assist.
Students must regularly check the normal platforms where their teachers post assignments.

Students must communicate with teachers via email and messaging platforms like Jupiter Grades to request work if needed, or if assistance on assignments is needed.

Turning in work during short-term Independent Study...

Students should turn in any assignments completed during their time on short-term Independent Study to their teachers.

Depending on the nature of the assignment, some students make their work submissions online all at once, while other students turn in a little at a time while away.

Some students return to school and submit their work on paper if this is what the teacher allows or requires.

Sharing work with Attendance Office

Aside from submitting work to teachers, students must also share samples of completed work with us in the Attendance Office.

The Attendance Coordinator needs evidence of school work being completed in order to clear student absences from time away on short-term Independent Study.

Most students submit work to the Attendance Coordinator via Google Classroom, Jupiter Grades or district email. Once a student begins short-term Independent Study, the attendance Coordinator will invite the student to join a Short-term Independent Study Google Classroom.

The exact manner that students submit work to the Attendance Coordinator depends on the student and nature of the assignments. Some students submit a little at a time electronically, while others submit their work all at once – electronically or on paper upon returning to school.

The Attendance Office will clear absences occurring within the time frame of the short-term Independent Study agreement – once the student has returned to school and work samples have been collected.

Absences cleared by the completion of short-term Independent Study count as days present in school. This type of cleared absence does not negatively impact the student’s attendance rate.